Hogwarts Year One
by Medico69
Summary: The first year at Hogwarts for Harry and Hermione. This is the next part after Before Hogwarts. The kids will have adventures and fun. This will stay as close to cannon as I can, given what happened in Before Hogwarts.
1. Chapter 1 The Zoo

**Hogwarts Year One**

**Summer (age 11) The Zoo**

Harry and Hermione were glad to get home, they would have about a month before they would go back for the Wards seminar. Dan and Emma had accepted an invitation for supper, so it was just one big happy "family" that night. Most of the conversation was Harry and Hermione telling about their schooling, and their invitation to the seminar. All of the adults were impressed with both kids and what they had learned. Dan and Emma were glad Hermione was getting a regular education as well as her magical education.

After supper Harry and Hermione had to demonstrate some of their spellwork for the adults, just to show what they had learned. The highlight of the demonstrations was when Harry and Hermione showed their staff work. It was at this point that Sirius told them of Alana's suggestion for staff training. Rick said that several of the martial arts had staff work in them, except they called them a bo instead of a staff. He said he would see if he could find someone to teach them that type of martial art, along with their regular self defense classes.

Sirius went on to tell everyone about his new job as Chief Warlock and what he had already done. Remus added that both Harry and Hermione needed to keep their advanced training a secret when they went to Hogwarts. Hermione asked why not just go to Peaks. Harry told her that he wanted to go to Hogwarts like his dad had done, and Sirius and Remus told her that it was a request of Harry's parents that he attend Hogwarts.

Harry and Hermione had agreed that they would each spend time with their families for a few weeks before starting back to training with Lucy, Rick, and Remus (Sirius was busy with wizengamot business). Harry was told that he had to spend time back at #4 Privet so the wards could recharge and so as not to draw attention to him or the fact he didn't stay there much. In addition, Lucy said, Petunia had a surprise for Harry - and it wasn't a bad one either. They worked it out that Harry would sleep at #4, but would spend his days with Lucy or Remus - the best of both worlds.

Harry and Lucy went to #4 about three days later, Lucy transported them so that they arrived in the back yard unseen. When they knocked on the back door it was answered by Dudley, "Hey Dad, the freak is back again". This got him a slap to the head by Petunia, "You be nice to Harry, there is no telling what he has learned and what he might be able to do if you upset him", Petunia said then turned and smiled at Harry and Lucy and asked them to step inside.

"Harry I hope you had a good term at school and it is nice to see you again", Petunia said then leaned in and whispered "After Vernon leaves I have something to show you Harry".

Harry was surprised and Lucy just smiled. After Vernon had left for work, and Dudley had gone to find some of his friends, Petunia started asking Harry what all he had learned at school and telling him that she had been learning also, from Lucy. With that Petunia pulled a wand out of her sleeve and with exaggerated movement made one of the plates on the table float. Harry was speechless.

"Harry, while you were off at school Lucy has been working with me. I can't do much magic as I'm not very strong, despite Lucy's potions, and can only do a few things. But now I understand some of what you and Lily felt when doing magic. Like I said, I can't do much but, if you don't mind, I would like for you to teach me some simple things. Oh, Lucy that potion you me gave for Vernon worked, he didn't snore all night long.", Petunia said with a big smile.

Harry agreed to try and teach his aunt s few simple spells as long as it didn't cause a problem. But he wasn't sure what he could teach that Lucy couldn't teach better. Lucy explained that she had never learned many of the simple household spells that most witches used everyday and that she knew that they had been covered at Peaks. Harry said he could do most of them but hardly ever used a wand for them. This surprised Petunia since she had been told that only a very powerful magic user could do magic without a wand.

With Lucy watching closely; Harry showed both women a few simple charms, like how to clean dishes, fold clothes, and perform scourgify to clean things other than dishes. Harry said Hermione could probably show them more as she had spent more time on them than he had and knew the wand motions better. When Harry asked about Petunia's wand he was told that Lucy had obtained it for her. Lucy also explained that Rick had added a magic concealing ward around the house so that Petunia and Harry's magic wouldn't be detected, unless Harry really put out a lot of energy.

Lucy left Harry and Petunia talking about magic and what Harry had learned in school. Lucy's next stop was to see Hermione and to ask her if she would teach some of the household charms to Petunia and herself. Hermione was quick to agree to teaching the charms, and maybe a few pranks as well. When Emma heard what could be done with simple charms she said she wished she was a witch so she wouldn't have to do so much by hand, and then laughed about it.

It got to where Harry spent a little time each day showing his aunt simple spells and the rest working with either Lucy, Remus, Rick, or his new martial arts instructor, who was teaching how to wield a bo staff. Sirius and Rick were still looking for someone to teach Harry, and Hermione, how to utilize a magical staff correctly.

It was Dudley's birthday and as usual he had a large amount of presents waiting at the breakfast table. It was decided that Harry would accompany them as they took Dudley and one of his friends to the zoo as part of the birthday celebration, Harry wasn't enthused with the idea but all the adults were tied up that day so no lessons.

Just before they left Petunia pulled Harry to the side and asked how Harry managed to carry his wand in public. Harry explained about the holsters he had for his wands and that the keychain he had was really his staff. Petunia said she wished she could carry her wand, but it kept getting hung up in her purse, even if she couldn't do much with it. Harry knew the feeling of being without a wand and could sympathize with her.

The day started out fine as the boys walked around and looked at the animals, the first problem came at lunch. Everyone was having lunch and Vernon had bought Dudley a large sundae, which he complained about being too small, which Harry ended up with until Dudley's friend "accidentally" knocked it into Harry's lap. Harry didn't even think he just cleaned himself up quickly. Vernon saw this and started yelling at Harry, Petunia quickly placed her hand over Vernon's mouth and told him he was drawing attention to them. This caused Vernon to get quiet really fast as he hated drawing attention to himself.

After lunch they headed to the reptile exhibits; this was where the second problem occurred. Dudley and his friend were trying to get the attention of a Burmese Python and it appeared to be asleep. As the two boys walked away Harry approached the glass enclosure and could hear the snake complaining about "two legged pests". When Harry spoke to it the snake raised it's head and looked at Harry. The two had a quick pleasant conversation until it was interrupted by Dudley and friend shoving Harry out of the way to see the snake better.

The two boys were again knocking on the glass when it wasn't there any more, the boys fell into the enclosure and the snake came out. The idea of a large snake loose in the exhibit caused a little bit of panic, but the only thing the snake did was say bye to Harry and head out the door. When things had quieted down it was discovered that Dudley and friend were now behind the glass with people staring at them. Harry could hear several other snakes expressing a desire to be free also.

It took almost two hours for the zoo to remove the glass to get Dudley out, his friend had been able to crawl out the hatch on top but Dudley was too fat to fit. Vernon was livid, and Petunia was doing all she could to keep from laughing once she saw Dudley was safe. Harry just stood around and listened to the other snakes and lizards complain about not getting out. Vernon tried to cause problems but it seemed that the zoo had cameras in the building and they showed that Harry did nothing unusual, they even showed Vernon knocking on the glass in spite of a sign saying not to do so.

The trip home was quiet, except for Dudley complaining and both boys shaking due to being wet, and smelly. Once back at #4, and Dudley's friend had gone home, Vernon took a swing at Harry. That was a bad idea as Harry remembered his training and defended himself. Petunia got into the act when she told Vernon that the camera clearly showed that Harry didn't have his wand so therefore he couldn't have done any magic, as she winked at Harry. Later Petunia asked Harry if he thought she could learn to do things without her wand, he told her he wasn't sure but doubted it. The snake was never caught or found and people were nervous for a while.

When Harry told the others about the incident Sirius and Remus were ready to go "have a little talk" with Vernon. Rick told them that he had already "spoken" to Vernon "the walrus" and explained that his behavior was unacceptable, also that Vernon was now in the negative as far as the money was concerned - Vernon owed money now for the year instead of getting money. Lucy and Hermione were too busy laughing to say much.

It was soon time for the seminar on wards, in preparation for the seminar Remus had given the kids an overview of Runes as these were used frequently in wards. The seminar was only a week long so no time compression would be needed. Lucy, Harry, and Hermione arrived at Peaks on Saturday, before the seminar started on Monday, so they could seeif Alana had any suggestions as to an instructor of staff usage, she didn't.

The first day of the session was an introduction of the speakers and an overview of what warding was all about. Harry and Hermione were assigned to the introductory classes, which were being lead by Grimstead. Grimstead started off by saying that most warding wizards didn't use a staff in their work but a couple of the most famous ones had made use of staves for very advanced wards, some of which still had not been completely understood much less broken. He went on to say that the use of staves would not be covered in his classes.

The definition of wards, as far as Grimstead was concerned was that a ward was a strong set of spells set by a magical being to protect or enhance something. The more advanced wards were keyed to a "ward stone" which was a special type of stone that was only found in very few places (mostly in a select area of Africa). But this class would only cover the basic spell wards.

"One of the most common wards used isn't usually even called a ward, it is called a child protection charm. This charm is used by almost all mothers to protect a child after birth. But it is actually a ward, this ward protects the child from fire, insects, and accidents. The reason it is a ward is because it combines several effects in one spell or incantation. In addition to protecting the child it also includes a component to alert the mother if something is wrong with the child."

"In most spells you cast the spell and that is the end of it, the spell does what it was designed to do and ends. Not so with wards, with a ward the caster's power is used to initially cast the spell but then another spell or object is used to provide continuing power to the ward. This may be done with ward stones, runes, or some type of power source such as special gems. Some of the strongest wards use a combination of several power sources, the source of power for the child protection ward is the child itself. The ward draws a very small part of the magic in the child to power itself. The amount of power drawn is increased when something happens to send the alert to the mother. But the energy required is less than that used to snap your fingers. In the case of fire or an accident the power drawn is more and the child will be weak for a few minutes afterwards. In extreme circumstances the ward will draw power from the mother to empower the protection of the child. That is just a very common and simple ward, imagine what you could do if you with more powerful magic in the initial spell and intent.", Grimstead explained as an introduction.

Everyone in that class had to learn this very simple ward as a basis for moving on to more powerful wards. Hermione had no problem with this, Harry on the other hand seemed to struggle with this spell. Harry was getting frustrated when Grimstead said that if the males in the class were having problems then that was expected as the ward was centered on the female and keyed to her core and gender. Males could cast the ward but it wasn't as effective, there were also a few other simple wards that were female specific in casting but they wouldn't be going into those. The class would focus on wards that most wizards and witches could cast equally, depending on the power of the wizard or witch.

The rest of the week was spent learning more about wards and the uses of said wards. The last day of the class Grimstead had obtained a ward stone and brought it to class to show what more powerful wards entailed to be set. The set of wards he used was the common household protection wards, fire, weather, insects, and intrusion. He set the wards on a very large dollhouse to demonstrate them. Then he set the same wards but added runes to the ward stone to show the difference when combining several power sources. Harry asked where the ward got its power the first time and was told from the earth it self usually but in this case from the ward stone which would have to be recharged occasionally.

This brought up an important point, all wards had to be recharged from time to time, with the exception of those very advanced wards that drew their power from the earth's core and included many complex runes to channel that power and regulate it. "Even the wards around Peaks have to be recharged on a yearly basis, as do the common household wards", Grimstead explained. He went on to say that sometimes all it took to recharge a ward was for magical people to be around so the wards could draw power from them to recharge., the amount of power drawn was so small and so slow that it wasn't noticed or missed and sometimes it was only a specific person effected.

Harry asked if it was possible to transfer the source from one person to another? Grimstead said it was usually fairly easy to do this, but you had to know who was the original source first. In a surprised move it was announced that in order to get credit for the seminar the participants had to take a test. Grimstead set each student up with a model house and they had to set basic household wards on it. He would then test the wards set to see if they were correct.

There were only ten members of the section that Harry and Hermione were in so the testing shouldn't take long. Grimstead said he would test Harry and Hermione last as they were the youngest and would take the longest to set their wards. Grimstead had only tested three houses when Hermione said she was finished with her wards, Harry was still working on his. Grimstead said she would be tested just before Harry and to take the time to re-examine her wards.

Grimstead finally got to Hermione's house; first he sent a swarm of termites to the house, they wouldn't approach. Next he sent a weak fire spell at the house, no effect; now he sent a mini-storm, the house remained unaffected. Grimstead animated a small doll and had it try to enter the house, the doll was thrown across the room and set on fire. Grimstead looked at Hermione, then told her the intrusion ward was too strong; but she passed.

Now it was Harry's turn, he was nervous. Grimstead tested Harry's house the same way as he had Hermione's. Insects had no effect and wouldn't approach, in fact a few more fled the house from inside. Fire wouldn't touch the house, Harry smiled as Firebeard appeared and shook his head at Grimstead. The mini-storm had even less effect than on Hermione's house. When Grimstead tried to send the doll in the house allowed the entry then bound the doll and stunned it. Grimstead tried to pick the doll up and got a mild shock and chains appeared around his fingers. Hermione tried and she could pick up the doll without problems.

As soon as everyone had tried, and had chains on their fingers, Harry released the chains. It seemed that even full grown wizards couldn't remove the chains. Then Harry explained that he had thought that friends should be able to enter the house but not anyone with the intent to harm. Grimstead said he was impressed, but when he went to vanish the house like the rest it refused to leave.

Grimstead asked one of the more experienced warders from another class to try and break the wards. An hour later a very tired wizard broke the wards, but said if the person who warded the house had done that to a real house then it might take a week to break the wards as the amount of magic was extremely large in relation to the size of the house. Grimstead had to know what Harry had done but waited until after class to ask.

"Harry, once again you have impressed me with your achievements. I have to ask, how did you get the wards so strong? Have you had training in wards before and didn't tell anyone?", Grimstead asked.

"No sir, this is the first time I have even tried anything with wards. I just set the wards like you showed us in class, except I used my staff, in its shrunken state, to add to them as an experiment. While setting the wards I was thinking that my friends and family should be able to enter without getting hurt or tripping the wards. I did include the alert part of the child protection ward in the house wards so the wards told me when Hermione tried something and allowed it. I don't understand why you couldn't vanish the house or why that man had so much trouble breaking the wards", Harry replied.

"Harry, did you become frustrated while setting the wards?", Hermione asked. Harry nodded. "Professor that might explain it, when Harry really puts his all into a spell it is very hard to break. He once cast Protego and it took three adults and myself to remove it since Harry was knocked out. If Harry was frustrated then he probably put a lot of energy into the wards without knowing it", Hermione continued to explain.

Grimstead called Alana over and asked if she knew of an old house that he could experiment on and that if destroyed wouldn't cause any problems. Alana suggested they use an old abandoned military site that was used from time to time for training MBI agents. They frequently destroyed buildings while learning breeching techniques.

The four of them, plus Lucy, traveled to the site. Grimstead asked Harry if he would set the same wards on one of the buildings. The building selected was concrete instead of wood so it would be stronger structurally. It took Harry an hour to set his wards. He didn't tell them but Hermione, Lucy, and Alana were the only ones keyed into the wards besides himself; he didn't want any of them hurt by the wards.

Grimstead tried many spells to breech the wards and nothing worked. When he tried to enter he was stunned and bound with real chains. Once released Grimstead asked what about mundanes walking up to the house, since this wasn't that unusual in the states. Harry said he didn't know what would happen. Alana tried to enter, prepared for the stun and chains, but nothing happened, the same with Hermione. When Lucy tried she was bounded but not stunned. This surprised Harry as she was supposed to be keyed in.

Lucy explained that she had been thinking that she would teach Harry a lesson and enter then cause a small fire. Harry understood, it was her intent that the wards reacted to and not her presents. About that time a group of men and women appeared. Alana explained that these were a training class here to learn breeching techniques, before she went to speak with the leader. Alana explained that they were there to test some simple wards and that it might be useful if they tested the wards for her.

The leader said that it might prove interesting for his group to try and detect and break the wards set by someone besides the staff. He turned to his group and told them that the wards set were set by someone else other than staff and as a test they would try and detect then breech those wards. He called the top student forward and told him to have at it. The student had little trouble detecting the wards but said they were too strong to breech easily as far as he could tell. All of the students tried to detect the wards, to see what wards were present that is, two couldn't tell what wards were present. They could tell there were wards there just not what they were.

The instructors all tried and they said the wards were simple household protection wards and should be easily broken, Alana smiled at that comment. Each student tried to breech the house wards and failed. The instructors were surprised when they couldn't remove the bindings from their students but Harry, or Hermione, had no problems. The group tried entering as an assault group and couldn't get anywhere that way either.

Next they tried apparating inside the house, entry wasn't the problem. The problem started when they appeared, stunning and binding were the most common result. The instructors tried a portkey resulting in the same reaction from the wards. One of the students just walked inside the house and nothing happened, until he tried to stun someone. It took a few minutes for him to be revived. The lead instructor explained that it seemed that it was the intent of the person that triggered the wards protective nature.

Alana asked if it would be possible to test the wards with a mundane to see what reaction was elicited. The leader sent for one of the mundanes that worked for the department. The person had no problem entering the house and wasn't effected. Next they had the same person try again but to concentrate on doing harm to the house, he entered but was overcome by nausea and reported that there was a horrible smell inside now. Next, the instructors tried to break the wards; they succeeded after any hour, but all of them were useless for anything then. They were almost completely drained of energy and magic. After a few "pepper-up" potions the instructors wanted to know who had set the wards so they could be prepared next time.

It was only after the five of them returned to Peaks that Grimstead mentioned that he had not seen Harry use his staff to set the wards. Harry said he didn't think to use his staff that time, just his wand. Grimstead told them that if Harry ever took a real interest in warding then someone was in for a real surprise when facing those wards. Grimstead bid them farewell but suggested that Harry think about studying runes in the future if he was interested in warding.

Once the three returned to England, Lucy told everyone about what had occurred and the compliments Harry and Hermione had received. She also mentioned the complaints from the MBI instructors about the stunning and chains. When Sirius heard this he just laughed loud and long, he remembered that training and how "stuck up" the instructors had been. Harry then explained about his idea, transfer the wards at #4 to Petunia, that way the household would always be protected and the wards would stay strong even when he was away. Rick agreed and said it would really confuse Dumbledore when the wards didn't weaken.

* * *

**A/N: Well, there you have the first chapter of the Hogwarts Years. I had written a final chapter for Before Hogwarts but couldn't get it to come out like I wanted so dropped it and decided to start Harry and Hermione to Hogwarts. Next chapter - Diagon Alley and the Hogwarts letters.**

**Please be kind and press the green button below and leave a review.**


	2. Chapter 2 Diagon Alley

**Hogwarts Year One**

**Diagon Alley**

July 31, 1991 time 12:00:05am, it was Harry's birthday. He was 11 years old; at least as far as most people knew as most people didn't know about the time spent in time compression in the US at Peaks. But that was confusing so Harry and Hermione had agreed to ignore the time spent in compressed time. If Sirius was correct his Hogwarts letter should arrived today, Hermione had already received hers since she was 11 this past September (too late in the year to be admitted). Hermione had already received her visit to explain to her parents that she was a witch, everyone had agreed that the fact she already knew was to be kept a secret.

Sure enough, when the mail came there was Harry's letter. Dudley tried to cause a problem, but Harry reminded him and Vernon that tampering with the mail was a serious offense - but if they wanted to take a chance and maybe pay it if the letter was a bill to go ahead. Just like Hermione's letter it was signed by Professor McGonagall and included the list of supplies needed. Harry signed the form and sent it back via the owl that appeared. Everyone had agreed that the two kids would go to Diagon Alley on the 3rd of August to gather their supplies, that was three days away from now. After Vernon left for work, Harry asked his aunt, who he had grown closer to, if she might want to go with them. Petunia said she would pass, this was to be Harry's day.

Harry, Sirius, and Lucy met the Grangers, Hermione and Emma, in Leaky Cauldron as arranged. They had just arrived when a very large man came through the fireplace. He was at least eight feet tall with a bushy black beard and hair, his eyes were small - almost too small for his face, and he was wearing a fur coat. He was greeted by the bartender, Tom, as Hagrid.

"Hagrid, come meet my godson", Sirius called to the man.

Hagrid shook Harry's hand and then shook Hermione's as well when she was introduced. Hagrid spent several minutes telling Harry about the last time he had seen Harry, as a baby the night James and Lily were killed. The six of them were just about to leave when a man in a turban came up to see Harry. The man was introduced as Professor Quirrell, the Defense Against the Dark Arts instructor at Hogwarts. Harry took an instant dislike to the man, something didn't feel right. Maybe it was the fact the man stuttered so bad and appeared weak, but something wasn't right.

Hagrid took great pleasure in showing both Harry and Hermione how to get into Diagon Alley through the wall behind the pub. Harry and Hermione both acted amazed when the wall opened up, as did Emma. Hagrid said he had an errand to do for Dumbledore and bid the group farewell as he headed towards the bank. The six of them took their time walking to the bank so both kids could get some money out.

As soon as Sirius asked about gaining access to Harry's vault they were notified that one of the managers of the bank wanted to speak with them before they went to the vault. The teller called another goblin, who his said was called Griphook, to show them the way. Griphook took them to see the manager, Ragnok.

"Mr. Potter, I presume. There seems to be a problem concerning your parents will. It was part of their will that on your 11th birthday you be given certain information. As Mr. Black is your Godfather he is allowed to remain and hear this information. Now first I need to establish your identity, if you would place a drop of your blood on this parchment we can do that now.", Ragnok said in a condescending manner.

Harry used the silver pin handed him and pricked his finger and them placed a drop of his blood onto the parchment. The parchment glowed briefly and Ragnok studied it for a few seconds before continuing. "Now that that is finished, according to your parent's will I am to present you with a few items", Ragnok said as he placed a small box on the desk.

Ragnok opened the box and said, "First, this is the Potter House ring, please place it on your right ring finger - it will adjust to fit.". Harry took the ring and did as requested and a golden glow surrounded him for a few seconds. "Good, now the next thing I have for you is your vault key, this key will only open your vault for your schooling expenses. This next key is the key to the Potter family vault, usually you would not receive this key until your majority. But due to the provisions of your father's will you are now the Head of House Potter and you are awarded the title of Lord Potter with all privileges and responsibilities thereof. The ring will allow you to access all of the Potter properties, they have been hidden for all these years after the death of your father - the last Lord Potter. I also have a list of these properties for you to keep so you can find each of them as you see fit", Ragnok continued.

Meanwhile at a manor house somewhere in northern Scotland a final jewel came to life and a gong sounded throughout the house. Gustus, the head elf of House Potter smiled and called all the house elves to him. "We have a new master and Lord Potter. I want the house prepared for his arrival, that means we need to clean the house as we haven't cleaned it in many years. The kitchen staff needs to make sure we have enough food in place to please the new Lord when he arrives. Dobbin, go to the other properties and warn them of the new Lord so they can make ready also".

"Mr. Ragnok, please just call me Harry. I have heard of how most wizards and witches treat the goblins and I would like to show proper respect. I see that since you control most of the money for the wizarding world you have more power than most suspect. I would ask a favor of you, I ask that you have someone from the bank to instruct me in what is and isn't concidered proper in goblin society. Of course I would expect you to charge me a small sum for this service", Harry interjected.

Ragnok was shocked, never had a wizard spoken to a goblin in this manner. "Mr. Potter, I mean Harry; you may call me Ragnok, just Ragnok. This is a very unusual request and one that I don't think has ever been made by a wizard to the goblin nation. I would be honored to provide the instruction you request, for a small fee of course. I will personally take charge of your affairs and prepare a full report for your review. May I see the pendant that you wear for a few seconds?", Ragnok replied, still shocked but smiling. If you have ever seem a goblin smile it is scary looking wit hall those teeth.

Harry removed the pendant and handed it to Ragnok who examined it for a few seconds. "If you will permit, I will set one of these gems so that you may portkey into a secure area of the bank if you have need of my services or advice", Ragnok said, still smiling. Harry nodded and one of the gems glowed briefly. "Harry, if you need to use this just press the jewel and say my name and you will be transported to the secure portkey area of the closest Gringotts Bank", Ragnok continued.

"Now I'm sure that you have much shopping to do for your first year at Hogwarts so I will have Griphook to show you to your school vault. Also, here are a list of your holdings for you to look over at your leisure. Oh, by the way the previous key to your school vault is now revoked so you don't have to ask Dumbledore for it back. It will take a few days to arrange the instruction you requested, so I will be in touch with you later regarding that matter. Please have a nice day Lord Potter and Lord Black", Ragnok said just as Griphook arrived.

After filling a bag with money from his school vault, Harry and Sirius asked to be taken to the Potter family vault. Harry enjoyed the trip to almost the very bottom of the cavern of vaults, Sirius seemed to be a little sick to his stomach. Once they got to the vault Griphook asked that Harry place his ring into the depression on the door and insert his key. The door emitted many clanks and clangs then slowly opened. Harry had been amazed at the school vault but this one was three times larger at least and full of items. There were pictures, books, armor, weapons, and stacks of coins. Before Harry could enter Griphook told him to place his hand in the hand print on the wall. When Harry did this he received a small prick and the doorway glowed for a second or two. Griphook said now the vault recognized him as the heir of House Potter and would allow him entry, along with anyone he invited.

Harry and Sirius looked around for several minutes before asking Griphook to return them to the surface. Harry did take a few books with him, at least he tried but they just went back into the vault. Griphook explained that the Potters had setup a system where the books were only available from the main Potter household library. When they got back up top Lucy and the Grangers were waiting and looked nervous about the long wait. Sirius explained that he and Harry had to take care of some House Potter business and that was what delayed them.

The next stop on their shopping spree was for potion supplies, not that they needed much due to Lucy's lessons. After that they picked up their books from Flourish & Blott's, from there they went and had ice cream. The next stop was Madame Malkin's Robes for all Occasions. Harry and Hermione were left there to be fitted while Sirius and Lucy showed Emma around a little and picked up some of the other supplies needed. One of the clerks took Hermione to a separate area to fit her robes, while Harry stepped up on a fitting platform next to a blond haired boy.

"Hello," said the boy, "Hogwarts, too?"

"Yes", said Harry.

"My dad's next door getting my books while my mother is looking at wands", said the boy. "Then I'm going to drag them to look at the new racing brooms. It's a shame they don't allow first years to bring their own brooms; but I'll sneak it in somehow", the boy continued sounding a lot like Dudley (which was a good thing).

The two boys talked a little more until the clerk was finished with Harry, just as Hermione came out from her dressing room. "Your robes will be ready later and we will send them to your house, just sign here so we know where to send them", Madame Malkin said. Harry and Hermione both signed the papers and then left the shop just as their adults came up. The next stop was to be Ollivander's for their "official" wands. On the way they passed the owl shop and decided to look around. Harry found a white owl that seemed to call to him.

When Harry walked up to look at the owl it seemed to be asleep but woke up and returned Harry's look. The owl took off and landed on Harry's shoulder, Harry reached up to softly stroke it's feathers. He felt a connection to his owl, so he paid for her - he was told it was a girl. Harry decided to call her Hedwig. Hermione didn't see any owls she cared for so they left.

As soon as they entered Ollivander's the owner came out to see what they wanted. "Hogwarts students I see" was all he said at first. "Well, ladies first". He had Hermione hold out her wand hand and his tape measure started doing several measurements on its own. After a few minutes Hermione had her wand, Vine wood with a dragon heartstring core.

Now it was Harry's turn, Ollivander recognized Harry almost immediately and said he remembered selling the wands to Harry's parents, in fact he could remember every wand he had ever sold. It took a while before Ollivander finally came up with a wand for Harry, Holly with a phoenix feather core. "Strange that that wand should choose you, the phoenix that gave the core of your wand only ever gave one other. In fact it was that other wand that gave you that scar. I expect great things will come out of you my boy", Ollivander said, "Yes great things, Voldemort did great things - terrible things, but great."

Now that they had all their supplies, the group headed back to the Leaky Cauldron and then home, or at least to Rick's house. Once they were back at the house Harry and Sirius explained more of what had happened at the bank and that Harry was now Lord Potter. Harry asked Sirius how they were to find the Potter Manor. Sirius said that if the Potter ring was like most, all Harry had to do was call his head elf and it would provide all the help he needed.

"I, Lord Harry James Potter, call for the head elf of House Potter", Harry said loudly.

An elf dressed in semi-formal clothes appeared, "The master called, and Gustus comes. We welcome the new Lord Potter, how may we serve you milord?"

"First, please call me Harry not master or lord. If you don't mind, could you take all of us to Potter Manor? I have only today learned of it and that I now own property. Also, I would appreciate any and all help you can give me in learning about the Potter holdings", Harry replied courteously.

"Gustus would be most happy to take the young lord to his manor, but I can't transport all of you at one time. If milord would allow, I can call for more elves to help transport all of you to the manor. But milord could do that just by using the portkey built into the Potter Ring. All Master has to do is say 'Potter Manor' while all are touching and you will be taken to the manor house. But, Master must not try to open the door until the house has recognized him as the new Lord", Gustus replied.

Harry held out his hand and everyone reached out and placed their hands on top of his, "Potter Manor", Harry said and felt the semi-familiar tug behind his bellybutton. The next thing they knew they were standing outside a rather impressive set of gates with the letter "P" on them. Sirius told Harry that he would have to announce his presence and be recognized before the gate would allow him entry.

"I am Lord Harry Potter and desire entry to my property", Harry said as he placed his hand in another handprint that appeared beside the gates. The gates opened and everyone passed through, then the gates closed behind them. It was a nice walk up to the house. When they got to the house they saw Gustus standing outside waiting. Harry once again asked entry and placed his hand on the doorknocker, there was a brief flash and the door opened.

Gustus bowed and indicated that Harry and friends should enter. The sight that met them was amazing; they were standing in a large entryway, there appeared to be thirty elves standing there and they all knelt as soon as Harry walked in. Harry asked them to stand up and told them they did not have to kneel or bow to him and went on to tell them that he preferred to be called "Harry" instead of Master or Lord or anything else. Gustus approached and introduced all the elves and said what their duties were in the household.

Gustus then, at Harry's request, gave them a tour of the house, which took almost an hour because it was so large and complex. After the tour, refreshments were served in the sitting room. After they had a chance to rest up and were refreshed, Gustus asked Harry if he wanted to renew the wards as they were getting very weak, when Harry said he didn't know how Gustus said he would show the young Lord what to do.

When Sirius tried to join Harry, Gustus said only the Lord of the manor was allowed to see the location of the ward stone and the room itself would prevent any other from entering, even as weak as the wards were at that time. Harry followed Gustus to a secret room, inside was a large ward stone sitting in the middle of the room. Off to one side of the room was a book on a pedestal. Harry was instructed to open the book and read how to recharge the wards. It took several minutes, but Harry finally approached the ward stone, laid his hand on it and recited the incantation from the book. As he recited the long incantation a glow surrounded him and the stone and Harry felt the magic pouring out of him into the stone, runes carved into the stone started to glow brightly. The torches in the room brightened and Harry collapsed.

Gustus appeared back in the sitting room and informed the others that Harry was now resting in the master bedroom and if he responded as usual then he would sleep until morning. Lucy and Hermione were upset until Sirius asked if this was the usual reaction to recharging the wards. Gustus told him that since the wards were so weak it took a lot of energy to recharge them and that he had thought that it would take several time to recharge them but Harry had fully recharged them in one go.

Gustus offered to have a meal prepared for them and to provide rooms for them until the next morning. Lucy said that if they had a potions lab she could make up a fresh batch of pepper-up potion for Harry to drink the next morning. Gustus said he would show her to the lab but the ingredients might be too old, but he could send for fresh ones from one of the other properties Harry owned that produced most of the potion ingredients for the house. Another elf walked into the room and said dinner was served, so everyone went into the dinning room and had a wonderful meal. After dinner was finished everyone was shown to their rooms and Lucy was shown to the potion lab.

When Lucy walked into the lab she was very surprised to see a lab that was very well equipped and very clean. The shelves were full, and from what she could see there wasn't much that wasn't available. One of the elves popped in and said he was the lab assistant and he had already obtained the new ingredients needed for the pepper-up potion. They were harvested within the past three days and had been thoroughly washed and prepared. It didn't take Lucy long to prepare the potion, and she bottled up some of it to store. She asked the elf if they needed to brew any other potions that were getting old, he told her he would do an inventory and let the master know.

Harry was surprised the next morning when he woke up in a strange bed. As soon as he had opened his eyes an elf appeared and asked if he was ready for his bath. Harry was amazed when he saw the bathroom, the tub was big enough for four people at once. After his bath, Harry felt much better and was surprised again when he found clothes laid out for him. These included his clothes from the day before, now clean, plus a set of robes with the house crest on them. Harry dressed and went downstairs to breakfast.

Sirius woke up when he felt someone shaking his shoulder to find an elf standing there. "Is Lord Black ready for his bath?" was all the elf said after introducing himself. Sirius took his bath and when he went to dress he saw his clothes had been cleaned and a set of Black Family robes were laid out for him. When he asked where the robes came from he was told that Gustus had remembered Lord Black when he used to visit with young James Potter and had asked the Black family for a set of robes. Sirius got dressed and went down for breakfast.

Hermione woke up with a start, where was she? Then she remembered that she and her mother had stayed the night at Potter Manor after Harry had collapsed. As soon as she sat up a female elf appeared and asked if she was ready for her bath. When Hermione exited the bath she found her clothes from the day before laid out and clean. Lying beside them were robes and the robes had a family crest on them. Hermione dressed, including the robes, and went down for breakfast after being informed that Master Harry was already downstairs.

The same thing was happening to Lucy and Emma, except no robes were laid out. Both ladies enjoyed their bath and the clean clothes. Once everyone was downstairs breakfast was served. The first thing Harry received was a pepper-up potion, he really didn't like the steam that came out his ears when he drank that potion, but felt much better a few seconds later. Now that he was awake fully he noticed the robes Sirius and Hermione were wearing.

"Where did you get the robes Sirius," Harry asked, "and why is Hermione wearing the same robes?"

Sirius explained that the Potter elves had gotten the robes from his house, but he didn't know why they had given Hermione the same robes. Lucy interjected and told them that she had found out that Hermione was a descendent of the Blacks, but a different branch than Sirius. In fact Hermione was the first descendent in over 500 years from that line that had magic. The line that Hermione came from were originally farmers instead of blacksmiths, but both lines were from the same master family. It was then that Hermione noticed the slight difference in the family crests between Sirius and herself. Where Sirius' crest showed blacksmithing tools her crest showed plows, but you had to look really close to see the difference.

After everyone had finished breakfast, and coffee or tea, Emma and Lucy remembered that they hadn't told anyone where they were and that Dan and Rick might be worried. When they expressed these thoughts Gustus told them he had notified their families where the three ladies were, but not why. Lucy said she wished the floo worked so she could call Rick and have him come over, Gustus said all that was required was for Harry to reactivate the floo connection and list the allowed connections. Harry went into the sitting room and, after Gustus told how, reactivated the connection and listed only Rick and Sirius as allowed, for now. Gustus suggested that Harry set a password so that he could access the floo from anywhere else if needed. Harry set a password for the floo and he would tell Hermione about it later.

Lucy had to call Rick as Harry didn't know the address for Rick's house. Once the connection was made Rick and Remus stepped through to Harry's house. Once the new people had seen the house, and been introduced to the elves, Harry and Hermione decided to look around the property to see what was there. The first thing they found was a beautiful garden with many flowers, next they came across a full size Quidditch pitch complete with changing rooms. The next thing was a nice stable with several horses in a pen next to it. While they were petting the horses an elf came up and said they were wanted back at the house, he even offered to pop them back; they decided to walk back as they needed the exercise.

When they got back Gustus told Harry that several of his properties had reported that the wards were almost at the fail point and they needed to be recharged within the next day or so. Harry asked how many and was told six, Harry remembered what happened the last time he recharged wards and was nervous. Then Gustus said he didn't have to fully charge them all at once just give them a boost, a small charge, until he had them all up to date. Gustus said he would be glad to take Harry to each of the properties, but until the wards were fixed it wouldn't be a good idea to take visitors - it might tax the wards too much.

Harry and Gustus popped out to the first property and once there Harry was shown to the ward stone where he gave it a mild charge, enough to last a few months. This property was the one that produced all the plant potion ingredients for the House of Potter. Harry was told that at one time the product from this property was sold to potion houses and was in great demand.

On to the next property, this one raised animals and provided shelter for magical creatures of all types. This was the Potter Sanctuary and if it was found here it might not exist anywhere in a few cases Harry was told. Harry gave this one more of a charge just to be safe. The next two properties were farms and only required a mild charge each as there were people that worked the farms and some of them were slightly magical, even if they didn't know it. The last two properties were on the coast and provided fish for the house and water based potion ingredients from the sea. These two both required more of a charge than the first, third, and fourth properties. Harry was introduced to all the elves at each place.

When they returned to the manor Harry was tired and agreed to lay down for a while, just to please Lucy. After Harry had gone to take a nap, Sirius asked Gustus if Harry needed to recharge any more places any time soon. Gustus said there was only one left that he knew of but it was too far for him to pop Harry. Harry would have to floo to that one, but it5 wasn't as needed as the rest since it had a good source of power and just needed updating to recognize Harry as Lord Potter.

Then Gustus asked a question that took Sirius, and Remus, by complete surprise. He asked what happened to Peter Pettigrew. Sirius got mad and ordered Gustus to never mention that name again, but Remus told Gustus that Peter was the cause of James' and Lily's deaths. "Then he must be made to pay for that", was Gustus' reply and he popped out of sight, loudly. It was two hours later when Harry came downstairs from his nap, feeling much better now. Sirius told Harry what Gustus had said about the last property and what had happened in regards to Peter's name being mentioned.

Harry called Gustus and when he appeared Harry asked that Gustus forgive Sirius for his outburst. Harry asked that any reference to Peter be removed from the house and that the name not be mentioned around Sirius, Remus, or himself. Gustus said it was his place to forgive an order and that if Peter ever showed himself at any Potter property he would be imprisoned until Harry set him free or killed him.

Harry and the group, except for Emma, spent another night at Potter Manor so that Harry could go to the last property the next day to charge and reclaim the wards. This last property was called the Potter Dragon Sanctuary and there were several dragons visible outside. Harry had to get a closer look at them so he walked outside before Gustus could stop him. The reaction from the dragons was frightening at first, then Harry realized that he could hear the dragons. Of course, dragons were reptiles and Harry could hear almost all reptiles and speak to many. Harry bowed to the largest dragon and asked for forgiveness for disturbing them. This surprised the dragons, a human asking for forgiveness from dragons. All the dragons got quiet and the largest one spoke with Harry and asked how it was that he could understand and speak to dragons. Harry explained and told him, for it was a male, that as long as he had the means, the dragons would always have a place to live safely.

Harry noticed several elves standing very still with their mouths open, including Gustus. Harry bowed to the dragon again and then spoke to the elves to see what was the matter. Gustus explained that it had been a very long time since any lord had been able to approach, much less speak with, one of the dragons. Harry watched as one of the elves approached a dragon and asked if the dragon needed brushing to remove any parasites. The dragon just laid down and the elf started using a large brush to remove any parasites that had infected the dragon.

Once Harry and Gustus were back at the manor Harry told everyone what he had seen. It was decided that it was time to return to Privet Drive and Rick's house. Harry bid farewell to all the elves and promised to return at least once before school started and he thanked them all for all their hard work and he was proud to have such fine elves living and taking care of the Potter properties.

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**A/N: Well, there you have the second chapter of the Hogwarts Years. Now this was written before anyone reviewed the first chapter. Don't be upset if the next chapter isn't quiet this long or as quick to be posted. Tell me what you think of my ideas and the way I have Harry and Hermione headed. Oh, Dumbledore is in for a very rude awakening once the two get to school. If you are a Snape fan then you might want to skip this story as I am not a fan of Snape.**

**Please be kind and press the green button below and leave a review.**


	3. Chapter 3 Trains&Feasts

**Hogwarts Year One**

**Trains & Feasts**

Harry made two more trips to the different properties over the next few weeks and now the wards had enough power reserves to last until the following summer. When summer came he could get them up to full power, after which it wouldn't be that hard to keep them powered.

It was now just a week before Harry and Hermione left for Hogwarts and everyone was gathered at Potter Manor. Sirius, Rick, Remus, and Lucy asked that everyone listen to what they had to say and then ask questions. Sirius took the lead and told the kids that the four of them had come to the conclusion that Harry and Hermione needed to keep their early education a secret. They also thought that Harry and Hermione might want to keep their power levels hidden from the school and the other students.

When Dan and Emma, in addition to Harry and Hermione, asked why the secrecy it was explained that if the general populace found out about how strong the kids were they would accuse the kids of doing "Dark Arts" and turn against them. In England there were few, if any, witches or wizards who could call an elemental or do as much silent magic, with or without a wand, as the two kids. Harry and Hermione could already do all of the second year spellwork without much of a problem, Harry could do most of it without a wand. The four magical adults thought that this would cause problems for the two kids and wanted to prevent those problems if possible.

Sirius went on to explain some of what he had done since taking the post as Chief Warlock. He had stripped Dumbledore of many proxies votes, along with several others, he had managed to get removed any past followers of Voldemort from the Wizengamot, and he had been able to get them back to operating mostly as the charter read. Sirius needed Harry to sign a paper that said Sirius could vote his proxy and seal that paper with his family ring, Harry did as asked.

After all the serious, no pun intended, part of the meeting was over, Sirius and Remus talked about pranks. They told some of the pranks that they and Harry's father had done when they were at Hogwarts. They suggested that Harry and Hermione not play too many pranks at first, but a few wouldn't hurt - especially towards the Slytherins. Lucy and Hermione's parents frowned at the suggestion of pranks, but only cautioned the two to be careful.

It was finally the day, today Harry got to go to Hogwarts! He already had his ticket and the four adults were going to take him to the station to catch the Hogwarts Express. They would meet Hermione and her parents there and show them to platform 9 and 3/4. Harry was excited, he had heard so much about Hogwarts. The Grangers were a little hesitant when it came time to walk through the wall between platforms 9 and 10, but they called up their courage and did it. The sight that awaited them was marvelous, there was an old time steam engine bright red in color with many cars attached. There were many witches and wizards, young and old, milling about the platform, and it was only 10am - the train scheduled to leave at 11am sharp. Sirius explained that it was possible to floo to the platform but every student needed to experience the public entrance at least once.

It was 10 minutes to 11 when Harry saw a group enter the platform, they all had red hair and appeared to be rushed. The group consisted of four boys, a young girl, and an older woman (probably the mother). Harry heard one of the boys ask "Why do we always have to be the last ones here?" but didn't hear the answer. Harry and Hermione gave everyone one last hug and boarded the train, having already selected a compartment. The kids hung out the window and waved as the train started off.

They had only been moving a few minutes when a young boy knocked and asked if Harry or Hermione had seen a toad, Harry said they hadn't but they would be glad to help look. Harry asked the boy his name, the boy said it was Neville Longbottom and the toad's name was Trevor. Harry looked at Hermione who raised her wand and summoned Trevor, then handed it to Neville and invited Neville to join them. Soon after a redheaded boy knocked and asked if he could join them as the cars seemed to be full.

"Hello, I'm Ron Wesley", the boy said.

Everyone introduced themselves and Ron was all up in the air about meting Harry Potter, the-boy-who-lived. Harry told him to just call him "Harry" and that he wasn't someone special, just a regular kid going to school. It wasn't much later when the compartment door opened and there stood the same blond headed boy from the robe shop, only this time he had two rather large looking boys with him. "I heard that Harry Potter was in this compartment and wanted to meet him. You can't be him, look at the red hair and hand me down clothes, you must one of those Weasleys - the blood traitors", the boy said looking at Ron.

"And you can't be Potter, since you are a girl. I'm Draco Malfoy, and you are?", he continued looking at Neville. Neville introduced himself and Draco looked at Harry. "You must be Potter, I remember you from the robe shop.", and offered his hand.

Harry stood but didn't take the offered hand. "You must be a right prat to come in here and insult people you don't know. As to the two goons with you do you really think three on four is fair. I've heard about the Malfoys, it seems that you father was kicked out of the Wizengamot for being a follower of Voldemort. Now why don't you get out and take the smelly two with you.", Harry said as he drew his wand, followed by Hermione drawing hers.

What nobody, except Hermione, noticed was that Harry's other hand was moving slowly towards Draco. Suddenly Draco and the other two were thrown out of the compartment and the door slammed shut. Neville and Ron just stared at the two, Harry and Hermione. Harry turned around and told them he didn't do anything, he wasn't even sure how to use a wand. Hermione said the same thing, but said she had only learned a few basic spells and that one looked to be much harder than any she had seen in their first year course.

The rest of the trip was quiet, after the lady with the cart came around the kids just sat there talking and eating candy, Harry had even bought candy for Ron. Ron explained about chocolate frogs and the cards inside the packs being trading cards. It was soon time to put on their robes, so they just put them on over their clothes. When the train came to a stop and they exited the train they could hear someone calling for all the first years to come to him. The person calling was a very large man in a fur coat holding a pink umbrella.

"Hagrid, it is good to see you", Harry and Hermione both said as they got closer. "Harry, Hermione, good to see you two too. Now all you first years queue up here and we'll get you started to Hogwarts", Hagrid replied as he showed all the new students to a group of boats. "Everyone in the boats, only four to a boat", Hagrid said.

Once everyone was in a boat, Hagrid raised his umbrella and tapped the boat he occupied alone and shouted "Forward" and the boats started out across the water. It wasn't long before they could see Hogwarts standing high on a cliff all lit up. As they approached a cave Hagrid told them to duck their heads. The boats pulled up to a dock and Hagrid got out and told the students to follow him up the steps. At the top of the steps, and there were many, Hagrid knocked on a door which was opened by an older woman, "Here's the first years Professor", was all that Hagrid said.

Professor McGonagall introduced herself and told them about the four houses at Hogwarts, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. She explained that once sorted into a house it would be their "family" while there at Hogwarts. She left them in a small room and said to "smarten up" their appearances and she would return to take them to the great hall. The Professor returned a few minutes later and had them line up and follow her into the Great Hall.

When they entered, Harry saw four great tables with one up front of the room. In front of the head table was a stool and on the stool was an old hat. Once they had arrived at the front of the room, Professor McGonagall told the head table the first years were ready. The hat formed a mouth from a tear in it and started to sing:

_"Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,  
But don't judge on what you see,  
I'll eat myself if you can find  
A smarter hat than me._

_You can keep your bowlers black,  
Your top hats sleek and tall,  
For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat,  
And I cap them all._

_There's nothing hidden in your head  
The Sorting Hat can't see,  
So try me on and I will tell you  
Where you ought to be._

_You might belong in Gryffindor,  
Where dwell the brave at heart,  
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry  
Set Gryffindor a part;  
You might belong in Hufflepuff,  
Where they are just and loyal,  
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true  
And unafraid of toil;  
Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,  
If you a ready mind,  
Where those of wit and learning,  
Will always find their kind;  
Or perhaps in Slytherin  
You'll make your real friends,  
Those cunning folk use any means  
To achieve their ends._

_So put me on! Don't be afraid!  
And don't get in a flap!  
You're in safe hands (though I have none)  
For I'm a Thinking Cap!"_

There was much clapping and shouting as the hat finished it's song. Prof. McGonagall then called each new student forward and they were told to sit on the stool and place the hat on their head, where the hat would then announce which house they belonged.

"Granger, Hermione", McGonagall said. Hermione sat on the stool and placed the hat on her head.

_"Oh what have we here? A fine mind and very well organized. In fact some of this mind is hidden, you would do well in Ravenclaw. But I see much bravery here as well so Gryffindor would suit you as well."_

_"No, not Ravenclaw; I want to be in Gryffindor."_

_"Well, either house would serve you well, but if you insist then _**GRYFFINDOR!**"

Hermione went and sat at the Gryffindor table. Things continue well, Neville was sent to Gryffindor, then Malfoy was sent to Slytherin. Then it was Harry's turn. Harry sat on the stool and placed the hat on his head.

_"Well what have we here, Difficult, very difficult. I can't see much, you have really mastered the feat of occluding your mind. What little I see shows a lot of courage, and the mind occluding shows a little sneakiness. You would do well in Slytherin."_

_"NO, NOT SLYTHERIN"_

_"But you would do well there, but if you insist, like Ms. Granger did, then it must be _**GRYFFINDOR!**

The Gryffindor went wild when they saw they had Harry Potter. Harry sat down by Hermione as several people pounded him on the back in welcome. It turned out that Ron was also sent to Gryffindor. After everyone had been sorted and the stool and hat taken a way, the headmaster rose, said a few short words (that didn't make much sense) and the table loaded up with food.

As Harry ate he felt a slight pressure in his head, when he looked around he saw two of the teachers talking and both were looking straight at him. Harry asked who it was talking to Prof. Quirrell and was told it was Prof. Snape the potions teacher and head of Slytherin house. Harry pushed the probe out of his head and watched as Snape got a very surprised look on his face, and Quirrell looked as if he was in pain.

During the meal they also met the house ghost for Gryffindor, Sir Nick. Ron promptly insulted the ghost and it went away, gaining Ron several disapproving stares from the other Gryffindors at the table. Soon the meal was over and all the food disappeared, the headmaster, Prof. Dumbledore, stood and welcomed they all to Hogwarts and went over a few of the rules. The first years were warned that the forbidden forest was off limits to all students, he looked right at the Weasley twins, that there was to be no spells in the hallways between classes, and that the third floor on the right side was off limits to all students who did not want to die a terrible death. He said that Quidditch trials for each house would be in two weeks and that notices were on the house boards.

Dumbledore ended his talk by asking the prefects to escort the new students to their dorms and bid them all a good night as classes would start the next day. Percy, the oldest Weasley and a prefect, lead them upstairs towards their dorm. Along the way they were met by Peeves, a poltergeist, and warned that only the Bloody Baron from Slytherin could control Peeves. They finally came to a picture of a fat lady in pink who asked for a password, Percy gave the password and the painting swung open showing the entrance to the dorm.

Once inside Percy explained the house rules and told them that Prof. McGonagall was the head of house. He explained that the girls dorm rooms were up the stairs on the right and the boys to the left, then suggested they all get to bed as tomorrow would be a long day. Once upstairs and in their room, Harry found that his roommates were Ron, Neville, and two more of the new boys. It wasn't hard to see which bed was whose, as their trunks were at the foot of the beds.

Harry got into his pajamas and was soon in his bed with the curtains pulled, he could hear Ron having problems with his pet rat Scabbers and Neville looking again for Trevor. Things soon got quiet, except for the snoring from what appeared to Ron's bed. Harry sat there for a few minutes and cleared his mind, putting up his nighttime mind shields as he had been taught before lying down and going straight to sleep.

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**A/N: Well they are at Hogwarts and now starts the new year at school. I know I left out some things from the books, but they were things I didn't find of importance. I'm sure there will be questions, and suggestions, but these are welcome.**

**Please be kind and press the green button below and leave a review.**


	4. Chapter 4 Potions

**Hogwarts Year One**

**Potions**

Bright and early the next morning Harry, and his roommates, met Hermione in the common room for Gryffindor. They followed some of the older students down to breakfast. The first years had just finished breakfast when Prof. McGonagall came around to past out the class schedules; they had Astrology every Wednesday night at midnight, Herbology three times a week with Prof. Sprout, Charms twice a week with Prof. Flitwick, Transfiguration twice a week with McGonagall (who was very strict), History of Magic with Prof. Binns (the only ghost to teach a class) once a week, Defense Against the Dark Arts twice a week with Prof. Quirrell, and Potions each Friday (a double session) with Prof. Snape. It didn't look as if they would have much free time.

After looking at his schedule, Harry and Hermione approached Prof. McGonagall and asked, "Professor, is there any way we could switch classes? Could we drop Astrology and add Ancient Runes"? McGonagall just looked shocked, but replied "Astrology is a required course for your O.W.L.s, and Ancient Runes is concidered too advanced for first year students. As first years, you don't have enough background in the basics to have a good foundation to build on. Now Mr. Potter I'm sure that since your godfather took over you have been exposed to many parts of magic but are still unprepared to start Runes. Where as Ms. Granger has not had the benefit of any studies so would be more unprepared for such an advanced course".

Hermione explained that she had an interest in spell preparation and that Ancient Runes was a large part of that, also she had already done some studying on her own before coming to Hogwarts and really had very little interest in Astrology. Harry seconded that last thought as he too didn't have an interest in Astrology. McGonagall said she would see what was possible, but until then they would have to follow the class schedule she had handed out.

Nothing much happened in Herbology, Harry had been working with plants for some time so there wasn't much to learn in the first class. Charms class started out with Prof. Flitwick calling the roll, when he got to Harry's name the Prof. fell off the pile of books he was using to see the class (as he was a very short, part Goblin, man). History class was very boring and most students soon fell asleep.

Transfiguration was interesting, McGonagall covered a few things that Harry hadn't covered at home. Their first project, or assignment, was to turn a match into a needle. Neither Harry nor Hermione had any problem with that, but Harry almost forgot to use his wand. As they were the only people to accomplish the task they were awarded points for their house.

Most students were looking forward to DADA, but were disappointed as Quirrell was very dull and seemed afraid of his shadow, not to mention the strong smell of garlic that surrounded him. Harry and Hermione were glad for the classes they had taken at Peaks, of course they already knew more than most second years did.

Finally it was Friday, time for Potions with Snape. Harry had gotten the feeling that Snape didn't care for him the least bit. Snape could be caught staring at Harry during meals and Harry kept feeling that pressure in his head whenever he caught Snape staring at him. All the older students had told the first years that Snape favored the Slytherins, since he was head of that house, and would especially pick on Gryffindors.

Everyone was in class and talking while waiting for class to start, when the door slammed open and closed and the shades came down as Snape walked into the class. Snape started out like Flitwick and called the roll, pausing at Harry's name to comment that they had a celebrity in class.

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making", Snape began. "As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses. I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death -- if you aren't a big bunch of dunderheads that I have to teach."

"Potter, where would you look if I told you to find bezoars?", Snape asked suddenly.

"In the stomach of a goat, or possibly in the potion supplies cabinet", Harry answered. This seemed to surprise Snape.

"And if I added powered root of asphodel to a wormwood infusion, what would I get?"

"I believe Sir you would get the Draught of Living Death, a very strong sleeping potion", Harry answered.

Snape was really surprised as these things were from much higher courses and weren't covered in first year potions. "Granger, what is the difference between wolfsbane and monkshood?", Snape asked suddenly.

"They are the same, also called aconite by some potion makers", Hermione answered.

"Well, it looks like someone has bothered to open their books before class. You should all be writing these down as you will see them again. Today we will be brewing a simple potion to treat boils, the instructions are on the board - get started!", Snape said as he paired the students together.

Snape walked around and watched as the students crushed snake fangs, weighed dried nettles, and stewed horned slugs. Snape kept telling everyone to look how well Malfoy was doing in preparing his potion. Suddenly he heard Harry yell "Stop" to Neville. As he turned to see what was the matter he saw Hermione grab Neville's hand to prevent him from adding an ingredient. "What is going on here Potter?", Snape asked.

"Sir, Neville was about to add porcupine quills to his potion but it was still on the fire. That could have caused an accident and I didn't want anyone hurt", Harry answered. Snape looked furious as he awarded points for Harry and Hermione preventing the accident, but he took almost as many points from Neville for the mistake. Snape had everyone bottle a sample of their potion and turn it in for grading.

"Potter, Granger stay behind, I want to have a word with both of you", Snape said as the bell rung ending class.

After everyone had left Snape waved his wand and the door slammed shut. "Potter, where did you get your information to answer the questions I asked at the start of class?", Snape asked.

"I found out my mother was great at potions and took up reading about them before school started. I hope I have inherited her skill in that subject, Sir", Harry replied.

"Granger, you don't have a background in potions, so I assume you too read the book", Snape continued.

"Yes Sir, I find magic very interesting and since potions are so very close to cooking I took an interest and read further than the first year course. But I have a question if you please Professor. Why were the instructions on the board different than the ones in the book, I mean the book says to stir six times to the right followed by three to the left. But your instructions were four right and four left. Could you explain the difference? Was that because of your experience in potions showed it better or just a misprint in the book?", Hermione answered.

Snape never answered Hermione, he was too busy trying to access Harry's mind. Harry felt that pressure in his head and pushed back slowly at first then just shoved it out. Snape's eyes opened wide as he was pushed out of Potter's mind. He had only seen darkness and felt evil the short time he was there. He just told the two they could go, Snape wasn't feeling too well right now.

The next morning when the mail came Harry got a letter from Hagrid inviting Harry and Hermione to tea that afternoon, Harry showed the letter to Hermione and said he would ask Neville to accompany them too. Neville was very surprised at the invite, but agreed to accompany them. Ron heard about the invite and asked if he could come along, Harry agreed.

When the four of them got to Hagrid's hut and knocked on the door they heard a dog start to bark, and Hagrid telling the dog to be quiet and to back up. Hagrid opened the door still holding on to the collar of a very large boarhound telling it to calm down. Harry introduced Ron and Neville. Hagrid commented that he was always chasing Ron's brothers away from the forest. Hagrid said he remembered Neville's parents from when they were in school with Harry's parents.

Ron and Hagrid discussed Ron's older brother Charlie, who worked for a dragon reserve somewhere. Hagrid commented he had really liked Charlie as he was so good with animals when in school. Hagrid asked about the other brother Bill and Ron told him that Bill was working as a curse-breaker for Gringotts in Egypt. The rock-cakes Hagrid served lived up to their name since they were hard as rocks. Harry noticed a news article that said that a vault at the bank had been broken in on July 31st. Harry commented that was the same day he had met Hagrid and gone to get his school money.

It was the next week when a notice appeared on the board saying that first years would have their first flying lesson the following Saturday, with Slytherin. Harry wasn't looking forward to that, it was bad enough they had potions with Slytherin, now he would have to listen to Malfoy brag about his Quidditch skills. Harry and Hermione were also wondering if they could pretend as if they didn't know how to fly as well as they could.

The day of the flying lesson they met on the lawn. Madame Hooch, the flying instructor told them all to stand by a broom, hold out their right hand and say the command "UP". Harry's broom jumped into his hand, this time Hermione didn't have any problem with the broom. Neville's voice sounded rather weak and shaky so his broom didn't respond well. Once everyone had their broom in hand, Madame Hooch explained how to mount and sit a broom. After everyone was mounted she went down the line suggesting changes in their grips. Malfoy was corrected three times before Madame Hooch took points for not following instructions.

When she got to Harry, who was beside Neville, she could find nothing to criticize about his grip, the same way with Hermione's grip. Neville, on the other hand needed correction. Harry offered to help Neville and Madame Hooch continued on down the line. Once she had seen everyone's grip was okay she told them to push off gently, hover and then land. Neville pushed off too hard and went soaring into the sky, Malfoy never got off the ground as Harry had sent a silent tickling hex at him and distracted him. Hermione took off after Neville and Harry wasn't far behind. The two of them bracketed Neville and talked him back down, only to be met by Madame Hooch.

"Mr. Potter, Ms. Granger, what do you think you were doing? You could have been seriously injured. Now I assume that you have had lessons before from the way you two handled Mr. Longbottom and his broom", Hooch said.

"Yes, my godfather, Sirius Black, taught me and Hermione", Harry said very quietly. Hooch just smiled, which Harry found out later was unusual for her. Hooch asked if they were used to flying together and was told they played catch on brooms the past summer. Hooch told them to stay after class as she wanted to speak with them, and to continue to help Mr. Longbottom and any other student who needed it.

Malfoy was still trying to get off the ground but every time some sort of hex or jinx hit him. Madame Hooch was getting upset with Draco and took more points. Draco complained that there was something wrong with his broom so Hooch tried it and it worked fine for a school broom. Draco was now the laughing stock of the class, even his two buddies Crabbe and Goyle were able to get off the ground. The rest of the class time Harry helped Neville and a few other "muggle born" students while Hermione did the same for some of the girls.

After class, while the rest were going back into the castle, Harry and Hermione met with Madame Hooch. She asked for a demonstration of their flying ability and the two were happy to spend time in the air. After watching the two Madame Hooch said Hermione would make a very good Chaser, and so would Harry. Harry told her he thought he would make a better Seeker than Chaser. Hooch sent them back to the castle.

That night at supper Harry noticed that Draco seemed a little down. As everyone was leaving the Great Hall, Malfoy pushed past Hermione saying "Outta way Mudblood". Draco only got two steps before Harry grabbed him and spun him around telling him to apologize. Draco reached for his wand but found himself on the floor with Harry on top of him. Snape came up and was starting to take points from Harry when Prof. Flitwick intervened and said Harry was defending himself and he had seen Draco reach for his wand before Harry shoved him down. Then Flitwick gave Draco detention and deducted 20 points from Slytherin, Snape was really upset now - at Draco.

The next morning Malfoy came over and challenged Harry to a wizard's duel, unfortunately Draco failed to notice Prof. McGonagall walk up behind him. When questioned Draco tried to say it was a matter of honor; McGonagall told him in that case the three of them would put the matter before the Headmaster. On the way to see Dumbledore, Draco kept tripping (thanks to Harry's silent spell work). McGonagall even checked Harry's wand after Draco accused him of casting spells, Harry's wand showed that the last spell cast was the one used in Transfigurations to change a match into a needle.

Dumbledore and McGonagall had already heard about the incident the previous night from Flitwick. When the two Professors heard the reason for the incident they both frowned at Draco. But, since Harry had knocked Draco down, Draco did have the right to challenge Harry. When Harry said he wasn't interested in dueling Draco he was called a baby and a coward. Harry asked if he had the right to choose weapons, and Dumbledore agreed he did have that right if he chose to accept the challenge. Harry just grinned and said in that case he chose hand-to-hand combat.

The look on Draco's face was one of shock, it kind of matched the ones on the professors faces too. Harry asked that his godfather be called to witness the duel, and Draco asked for his father also. That night at supper Dumbledore announced the challenge and the acceptance and said the matter would be settled the following Saturday afternoon and all students were allowed to witness the outcome.

Hermione was upset when they got back to the dorm and asked Harry what was going on. Harry explained that he had accepted Draco's challenge. Hermione was afraid that the duel could show their advanced skills, until Harry told her it was to be settled hand-to-hand. Hermione's only reply to that was, "Oh poor Malfoy. Please Harry, don't hurt him too much". Harry said he just intended to embarrass Draco in public, again. Neville heard this conversation and asked why Hermione was concerned, he didn't get an answer he understood.

The rest of the week went well, until Friday in potions. Snape gave them a "pop quiz" and got upset when Harry or Hermione answered each question correctly, since it was an oral quiz. During the class Snape once again tried to enter Harry's mind, he was violently ejected. When he tried to do the same to Hermione, all he saw was a very large dog with bared teeth. The fact that two first year students had mental shields was bad enough, but to be ejected from Harry's mind was a complete shock to Snape.

Saturday morning Harry was caught outside before breakfast by Filch, the caretaker, and was taken to see McGonagall. When Harry explained that he got up early everyday to run before breakfast, McGonagall asked why. Harry told her so he could stay in shape as he had been told a strong body made for a strong magical core. McGonagall couldn't see any reason for Harry not to be outside in the early mornings so she told him he could continue.

Just before lunch Harry was summoned to Dumbledore's office, only to find Sirius waiting there for him. Harry and Sirius took a walk around the grounds and Harry explained why he was going against Draco. Sirius laughed so hard he fell down, then he said basically the same thing as Hermione, "Don't hurt him too much". Harry once again said all he was going to do was embarrass Malfoy again. Harry told Sirius about all the tricks he had played on Draco and Sirius fell down again.

It was about two o'clock when Dumbledore called Harry and Draco out to settle their dispute. Harry walked out in jogging suit, Draco walked out in his robes. Harry handed his wand to Sirius and took off his jacket. Dumbledore had to ask Draco to give up his wand, which was handed to his father. Harry looked Draco in the eye and said if Draco apologized to Hermione then they could forget the duel, Draco declined the offer. Harry suggested that Draco might want to remove his robes so he would have better movement.

The two faced off, Madame Hooch as the referee blew her whistle to start the match. Harry just stood there and waited for Draco to make the first move. When Draco took a swing Harry just pushed it aside, next Draco tried to tackle Harry, but Harry side-stepped him and Draco hit the ground. Harry taunted Draco by saying "Come on Malfoy, this duel was your idea. At least try to do something besides falling on the ground". The one-sided battle went on for 10 minutes before Draco didn't have the strength to get up. Madame Hooch had seen a few fights and gave Draco a ten count to get up then declared Harry the winner.

Harry walked over and offered Draco a hand, which was slapped away. Harry just shrugged and walked over to Sirius to retrieve his jacket and wand. Harry was still ten feet away when he sensed a spell coming and threw up a shield without thinking. The spell rebounded and hit Lucius Malfoy causing him to be knocked to the ground. Sirius had his wand out in a heart beat looking for who had attacked Harry. Everyone gasped at the speed of Sirius and the shield. When they looked for who had attacked Harry from behind they found Lucius' wand in his hand.

Once he woke up Lucius was arrested for attacking a student, from behind, and escorted to the cells in the ministry. Draco was livid, not only had Potter made a fool of him but Potter had been the cause of his father getting arrested. Dumbledore announced at supper that he didn't want any more duels at school and that the next student to challenge another student would be expelled. All of the Gryffindors were excited; not only had Harry defended another Gryffindor, he had embarrassed Slytherin. For some reason Draco's hair and robes kept changing colors all through supper, they even turned transparent a couple of times.

* * *

**A/N: Well, I hope you enjoyed the way I handled the duel (and Malfoy Sr.) between Harry and Draco. Next up Halloween and trolls. I still need to get Harry on the Quidditch team somehow, along with Hermione.**

**Please be kind and press the green button below and leave a review.**


	5. Chapter 5 Pranks and Training

**Hogwarts Year One**

**Training and Pranks**

After all the excitement of "the duel", as everyone was calling it, Harry decided that it was time to step up the pranks (Sirius had suggested it). It had started during supper that Saturday with Draco, but now to extend the pranks wider. Once they were back in the dorm Harry told Hermione his idea of increasing the pranks school wide. Hermione knew this had to have come from Sirius, but it did sound like fun - it wasn't as if they were being challenged much by classes and all the good books were in the restricted section.

The next morning it started with the Weasley twins not being able to keep their robes the correct color, black. The robes in question changed colors at random intervals, one minute they were black then green then powder blue and the final insult to the eyes a lime green with bright pink stripes. This caused enough problems in the common room but even more at breakfast. It was at breakfast that Snape got hit with the same problem, along with Dumbledore's beard.

It seemed that no house was exempt from the color changing robes, the only teacher not effected was McGonagall - her robes just turned to a Tartan plaid and stayed that way all day. At lunch several students were heard to complain that their wands had changed into rubber chickens when they tried to use them. It was the big sign that appeared at supper that got the attention of the staff and a few of the older students:

**REMEMBER THE MARAUDERS **

Fred and George were surprised and of course Dumbledore and McGonagall blamed Sirius, but only to each other. Snape was seen to frown more than usual and had a particularly disgusted look on his face.

That night Hermione told Harry that she missed learning new things and wished they had gone back to Peaks. She admitted that she had been mistaken and had confused Astronomy and Astrology, while one was the study of the stars the other was the false art of how the stars effected one's life - they were studying the stars and their relationships in the night sky. Harry said he had made the same mistake but still didn't care for the class, he then admitted that September had been fun but it was time to learn more about magic. Harry also asked Hermione why she hadn't been coming down to run each morning, only occasionally. They agreed to meet each morning to run, weather permitting of course.

Bright and early the next morning the two of them met in the common room of their dorm and went outside to run. Hermione soon noticed she was out of shape as compared to how she had been before Hogwarts, this didn't impress her in the least. It was when they were cooling down that Hermione had an idea, she asked Harry if it was possible to call Gustus while they were at Hogwarts. Harry admitted he didn't know but he asked why. Hermione told him if he could call Gustus then they could access some of the books from Potter Manor and continue their studies. Harry said he would call Gustus that night and see if the elf appeared or not.

That night, after his roommates had gone to bed and asleep, Harry called Gustus. Gustus appeared and asked how he could serve Harry. Harry explained what Hermione's idea had been and Gustus said it would be no trouble to supply books from the library, he just needed to know which ones they wanted. Gustus also suggested he arrange for an elf to serve Harry personally and to be on call, Harry asked if Gustus could also get a female elf to assist Hermione. Gustus said he would return and popped out, very quietly, only to return a few minutes later with another, much younger, elf.

"Master Harry, this is Reggie and he has expressed an interest in serving you in the manner we talked about. Besides the elf in charge of the library, he is the one most familiar with the books and has spent more time outside the manor than myself. If Ms. Hermione will call, then Daisy will assist her in whatever ways she can. Both of these are able to transport you if so desired", Gustus said in a formal manner.

"Thank you Gustus, I knew I could depend on you. By the way is there anything I need to know about at the manor, anything I need to be doing to help you and the rest of the elves?", Harry replied. Gustus told Harry that all was well at the manor and there had been no problems reported by any of the other properties. Harry thanked Gustus again and said he could return to his sleep, or whatever he had been doing.

Harry turned to Reggie and thanked him for coming. Reggie was younger than Gustus and was wearing the standard elf uniform for the Potter family. Harry asked Reggie if he knew Daisy and found out that Daisy was Reggie's mate, if Harry would allow that. Harry told him he had no objection, as long as Gustus didn't. Harry told Reggie he would call him when he had thought more about what books he wanted and if he needed anything, with that Reggie popped out and Harry went to sleep.

The next morning as Harry was getting ready to go meet Hermione for their morning run, Neville asked what Harry was doing up so early. Harry explained about his morning run routine and Neville wanted to know why Harry ran every day. Harry explained that it was due to his daily run and exercise that he was able to outlast Draco in the duel, he had more stamina. Neville expressed a wish he had some workout clothes so he could join Harry. Harry told him to wear a pair of trainers, which Neville didn't have, and a comfortable pair of pants and a t-shirt or light jacket. Harry was tempted to transfigure a set of warm-up for Neville but remembered he was supposed to be a first year and not know how yet.

After Neville was dressed as best he could, the two boys met Hermione in the common room and Harry explained why Neville was there. Hermione, ever the brain, said that maybe they could ask Prof. McGonagall to do the transfiguration for them. Neville was nervous about asking any teacher for anything, but Hermione said she would ask for him, he just had to be there so things fit. The three went down and Harry, with Hermione's help, explained about warming up and how to stretch before a run. Neville had a light sweat worked up before they even started to run.

Hermione said they would take it slow at first until Neville got used to the exercise. Neville didn't make it more than about a half mile before falling down and trying to catch his breath. Harry told him to rest a few minutes then to walk back to the dorm, take a hot shower and then to rest until breakfast. Hermione added that Neville needed to change his diet so that he got more protein and much less sugar, to increase the intake of vegetables and fruits. Harry and Hermione only got in three miles, but it was at a much faster pace than usual, before returning to the castle for their showers.

It happened that they had Transfiguration first thing that day, after class the three approached McGonagall and explained their request about Neville. McGonagall was glad to help the trio out and pleased that the three were such good friends and helped each other out. In fact she had heard that Harry and Hermione offered help to any of their dorm and classmates who had a problem with their studies. She told them that while the spell was very simple they just hadn't had enough experience to do it themselves, but if they worked hard they might be able to do it by the end of the year.

That night Hermione called Daisy, after her roommates were asleep, and asked if Daisy could get her some small weights to carry while running, around 2 pounds each in barbell form. Daisy said she could if she knew what they were but she had never heard of these barbells. Hermione suggested that Daisy get a copy of a muggle exercise catalog so she could show her what things were. Daisy popped out and right back with the catalogs, once Hermione showed her what she needed Daisy went and found some for Hermione.

The next morning it was raining so Harry, Neville, and Hermione decided not to run but did their stretches and then offered to help Neville with some of his spell and wand work. Neville was surprised to find he had more skill than he thought, he just lacked confidence in himself. Throughout the day Harry, or Hermione, helped Neville whenever they could and asked him to provide help in Herbology - Neville's favorite and best subject.

It was during lunch that Prof. McGonagall approached Harry and Hermione and said Madame Hooch had been very impressed with their flying skills and their willingness to help others. McGonagall said that Gryffindor had a problem, they needed a good Seeker and one of their Chasers had not returned due to graduating. She asked if Harry and Hermione might be interested in trying out for the team, even if they were first years. Both agreed to try out the next afternoon, but wanted to use their own brooms, Harry said if he was allowed to call Sirius he was sure Sirius would bring the brooms to Hogwarts the next day.

They had Charms after lunch that day and the spellwork was quiet easy for Harry and Hermione, in fact they were asked to help the other students by Prof. Flitwick. It was a surprise when the bell rang and the Prof. asked Harry and Hermione to stay behind, since they had a free period next. After all the rest of the students were gone Prof. Flitwick asked both kids if they felt they were learning much in his class, since they seemed to master the spells so well. Harry and Hermione kind of stuttered around a few seconds before Flitwick said that if they felt they needed more advanced work to ask and he would find something challenging for them. It took the rest of the time for Flitwick to test them through all the first year and second year spells, he even found they could do some of the spellwork for third year. Flitwick was very excited about finding two such advanced students, but both Harry and Hermione asked that it be kept a secret so they would have time for themselves instead of trying to teach the others outside of class.

The following afternoon Harry and Hermione went out to the pitch to try out for the team. McGonagall met them there with their brooms. Most of the team were surprised when they saw two first years who had their own brooms, brooms better than the schools by a long shot. The team captain, Wood, tested Harry first by throwing golf balls in the air for Harry to catch, Harry got bored and asked if Wood could throw two to three at a time. Wood threw two at once and when Harry caught both before they hit the ground he was surprised. Next Wood tested Hermione on simple flying maneuvers used by Chasers, no problem. When Wood put another Chaser in and had them pass the Quaffle as they flew down the pitch, Hermione was used to this as this was what she and Harry did all the time. By the end of the session Harry and Hermione were on the team.

Harry and Hermione were worried, they had not had a chance to call their elementals in a long time and they missed them. Harry had an idea, late that night Harry called Reggie and Hermione called Daisy to transport them to an empty classroom. Once there Harry locked the door so that nobody could get in, at least not without a lot of trouble and magic, and they both called their elementals. Once the elementals appeared the two elves were surprised, very surprised, to see them. Introductions were made and Harry and Hermione spent a couple of hours talking with their elemental friends, and the elves. It was decide that Harry and Hermione would do this same thing once a week and their friends were glad.

Before they went back to their beds, Harry and Hermione talked about doing this for other reasons, like to work on their spellwork and more advanced lessons. They could also use this time to work with Neville on his confidence and skills, they had taken an interest in him and liked him. Ron on the other hand was always asking to copy their homework, both Harry and Hermione were put off by this. It was agreed to approach Neville the next day about their idea.

The next morning while on their run Harry and Hermione explained the idea of using gone of the empty classrooms at night to expand their skills, but it would have to be kept a secret. Neville, who had never had any friends, readily accepted the idea, besides he needed all the help he could get. The three decided to meet each Friday night, since they didn't have classes on Saturday, to train (Harry and Hermione would call their elementals on Monday and train by themselves on Wednesday nights).

Neville then surprised them by asking if they could teach him some of the tricks they had been using as pranks on the other students and staff. Harry and Hermione just stared at Neville and asked what made him think they were responsible for the pranks. Neville smiled and told them he had seen how advanced the two were and the looks they gave each other, not to mention that they never seemed to be effected by the pranks. Hermione finally snapped out of her shock and told Neville that they would work on it with him, but he had to really try his best and have confidence to perform some of the spells.

Potions that week was interesting in that Draco tried to toss something in Neville's caldron, but Hermione saw it and prevented the object from entering, instead she redirected it into Draco's caldron ruining his potion and causing the class to end early due to the amount of smoke created. Snape was furious, he had looked into Draco's mind and seen the memory of him throwing something towards another student's caldron, that didn't bother him much as it was a Gryffindor caldron, but the fact that it ended up in Draco's was the surprise. The kids not had an extra hour of free time on their hands.

Harry suggested that they use the extra time to do another run and to work out some more. The three went and changed clothes and met up outside. They did their stretches and then told Neville to run as far as he could at his own pace while they went for a longer and faster run, they would meet back in the same place afterwards. It took Harry and Hermione 45 minutes to run five miles and return to meet up with Neville. Neville had run a mile and a half before cooling down and waiting for Harry and Hermione.

"Hey Mudblood, I know you threw something in my caldron. Now you get to pay for it.", they heard Draco say as he walked up. Draco had his wand out and was in the process of casting a spell when his wand suddenly flew from his hand. Hermione walked over to a surprised Draco and punched him right in the nose, hard. "Malfoy, that is the second time you have insulted me and I'm tired of it. If it wasn't for the fact I don't want to be expelled, I would take you on in a duel. But, you got lucky that Prof. Dumbledore forbid any more duels at school. How would that look for you to be beaten by a girl, a MUGGLE BORN girl?", Hermione exclaimed towards Draco.

Snape came up and tried to take points from Hermione but she was pissed and challenged the points and demanded that the Headmaster be involved, Snape didn't think that was needed. Then Hermione reminded him of the school bylaws that said any student could challenge a teacher's point taking or detention to the Headmaster, all they had to do was request that it be done. Snape was caught, if he refused he could lose his job and be fined heavily, besides there were too many students around who had heard the challenge and saw what had happened.

Snape sent a message to Dumbledore and McGonagall, as head of Gryffindor. When the two Professors arrived they were informed that Hermione had challenged Prof. Snape's decision and requested arbitration by the Headmaster. This challenge had not been used for many years and wasn't much known, but still it was correct. Dumbledore explained that if it was found that Snape was justified then it could mean expulsion for Hermione. She accepted that and asked that the Professors question the witnesses of the incident. After talking with around ten other students, some of which weren't in either Gryffindor or Slytherin, it was clear that Draco had been in the wrong and that instead of resorting to wands Hermione had punched Draco. It was also clear that Snape acted incorrectly and that the points shouldn't be taken from Hermione but from Draco, and he received another detention. Then McGonagall dropped a bomb, she asked that if Draco assaulted, or attempted to assault another student he be suspended or expelled; she added that as head of Slytherin, Snape needed to send a letter to Draco's parents about this and if he didn't she would.

There was much yelling and cheering in the Gryffindor house that night over Snape being caught deducting points unfairly. McGonagall came in and told the whole house that while Hermione was correct in her actions of involving the Headmaster, she did not recommend it being made a practice of due to the consequences if the challenge went against them. She then awarded Hermione 5 points for knowing the school rules so well.

That night Harry and Neville met Hermione in the common room at midnight. After swearing Neville to secrecy, Reggie and Daisy were called and transported the threesome to an empty classroom. The three spent two hours working together on spells and by the time they returned to their dorm Neville had improved greatly in Charms, he still needed more work on Transfigurations but was showing improvement. Neville didn't even ask why the elves responded to Harry and Hermione's call and requests. Neville did notice the Potter crest on the elves clothing.

Things went along pretty much the same, except Snape was more careful about taking points now that the whole school knew about challenging his decisions. It got where Harry spent almost as much time in potions deflecting Snape's mind attacks as he did brewing potions. Hermione had suggested that Harry try and teach Neville the mind defending techniques so he wouldn't be as open. Harry started teaching Neville how to relax and clear his mind, he also started showing Neville how to do basic Ti Chi in the mornings with Hermione and himself. The threesome kept up their Friday nights of extra study and Neville was showing much improvement, this improvement was noticed by their instructors also.

It got where it wasn't unusual for either Harry or Hermione to ask questions after class, but on more advanced subject matter, of Prof. Flitwick, and sometimes Prof. McGonagall. Since they weren't allowed to take Runes officially, Harry and Hermione studied on their own, they just didn't have anyone to question when they came across something they didn't understand. In addition Harry started practicing setting wards around his trunk, books, bed, and especially his caldron.

The first wards he set on his trunk were simple ones that made anyone who wasn't authorized and tried to enter it have bright green hair for 24 hours. When he saw that Ron had bright green hair Harry was pissed and increased the wards to more stringent measures. Harry told Hermione about Ron and offered to do the same for Hermione's trunk if she would have Daisy bring it to their meeting, the trunk was brought and now Hermione, and Harry, were the only ones who could access it, the only humans. Harry taught Hermione a few simple wards for her caldron and they came into play much sooner than expected.

It was a week before Halloween when McGonagall asked the threesome to stay after class. She explained that she had noticed the improvement of Neville and suspected that Harry and Hermione were responsible, she had also noticed that their fellow students were doing better also. Now she informed them that she had noticed the extra lessons that Prof. Flitwick had been providing and offered the same, in secret of course as she couldn't be seen as playing favorites. The offer was accepted, but Neville said he wasn't up to the advance studies; Prof. McGonagall said she would work with him at his level. They had their first extra session that day and to say that McGonagall was surprised at the level of Harry and Hermione would be an understatement.

Harry had noticed that the feelings he got when in DADA were getting stronger, more evil. It got to where he had to keep his shields up in class just to concentrate, not that Prof. Quirrell was covering anything that Harry and Hermione didn't already know from Peaks. So Harry, and Hermione, would spend more time on DADA in their "private" lessons on Wednesday nights, and sometimes on Mondays. It was during a Monday session that Harry got an idea, or thought, they needed to see if Neville was able to handle an elemental summoning, Harry just didn't know how to test that without the wands from Peaks. Firebeard said he could help Harry create a Fire Elemental Rod, since Harry already knew how to create basic wands, then Windford and Windy said that they should be able to help create an Air Elemental Rod. But what about Water and Earth rods, how were they going to create those?

It was decided that during Christmas they would try and create the two rods, Fire and Air, and see if they could find a way to come up with the other two they needed, or wanted. Harry was sure that if Neville was able to summon an elemental it would be an Earth Elemental due to his attraction to plants and such; so they needed the Earth Rod as soon as possible.

That Friday when the threesome met in the classroom Harry asked Neville what he knew about elementals, turned out not much. Their time was well spent and it was when the two boys returned to their dorm that trouble appeared in the form of Ron Weasley. "Where you two been and why are you always sneaking out on Friday nights?", was the first thing out of Ron's mouth. Harry told him to keep it down and he would explain later in the day as both he and Neville were tired.

After returning to their dorm, and Ron was snoring, Harry summoned Daisy, she was his elf after all, and asked her to take a message to Hermione. Harry wrote out a brief note telling Hermione about Ron and asked her to think about what to tell him the next day. Daisy said she would make sure Hermione got the note, and thanked Harry for allowing her and Reggie to be mates. Harry didn't get much sleep that night thinking about what to tell Ron.

The next morning Harry was tired and only did his Ti Chi, but told Hermione and Neville to do their runs, he was too tired to come along. While Hermione and Neville ran, Harry centered himself and then summoned Reggie to ask for a pepper-up potion from the house. The potion did the trick and Harry felt much better by the time the other two got back, with Neville being the first.

It was at breakfast that Ron started being pushy about getting an explanation about Harry and Neville's Friday night excursions, without him. Harry told him to keep it down or he would get them in trouble and then Gryffindor would lose points. When Hermione showed up for breakfast Ron got quiet thinking she didn't know about the excursions and wouldn't approve if she did. The rest of breakfast was quiet, and Harry was glad.

Hermione caught Harry's attention and motioned with her eyes for him to follow her, then got up and said she would catch up with them later she had to visit the loo. It wasn't long before Harry excused himself and when Ron tried to follow told Ron that he didn't need any help visiting the loo. Harry and Hermione met up in the common room and quickly discussed the situation and decided to tell Ron that Harry was helping Neville with his studies, that wasn't really far from the truth.

Ron and Neville came in a few minutes later and Ron started in again. Hermione finally had enough of Ron and told him to shut-up and listen. The commotion had attracted the attention of Ron's older brothers, Fred and George, who came over just in time to hear Hermione tell Ron to shut-up and listen. "Sounds like good advice bro, but you never was one to listen." came from one of the twins, Hermione thought it was Fred but wasn't sure (Harry knew it was Fred).

"Now what is all this yelling", was heard as the oldest brother at Hogwarts, Percy, came over. Fred and George told him to butt out as they had it under control, it was just "Ronikins being a git as usual." Percy left in a huff. Ron complained that Harry and Neville were sneaking out at night and he wanted to know why. Fred, or was it George, said that it wasn't any of his business, but they would be interested if it involved pranks or getting by Filch. Harry explained that Neville was having some problems in class and that he, Harry, was giving him some extra help. Ron said he could use some help too, then Hermione jumped in and said the only help Ron ever asked for was to copy either Harry's or her homework.

When Ron started to whine again, Hermione pulled her wand and changed his clothes to a bib and bonnet, like a baby might wear. Harry, Neville, and both twins started laughing at Ron's expression. "Do we need to get someone to change his nappy?" one of the twins asked as Ron ran upstairs, his clothes changing back. The twins were impressed with Hermione's skill, and the fact they just barely heard her say anything. Now they had a good idea who had been getting them in trouble with pranks around the school.

The twins started complementing Hermione on her spellwork, but after a few minutes she told them to zip-it and caused zippers to appear on their mouths shocking both. Hermione removed the zippers after a few seconds and the twins were all smiles and wanted to know how to do that spell and if she would teach them. The twins were known as the biggest pranksters in school since the Marauders many years ago, in fact they hoped to be even greater. Hermione agreed, but only if they kept it quiet and didn't use it her, Harry, or Neville. But they could use it on Ron all they wanted.

The incantation for the zipper spell was simple, the removal was a little more difficult. After about 15 minutes they had the spell down, even Neville was able to cast it (Hermione had to remove the spell for him after he cast it on himself). There followed a period of time where students would suddenly spout zippers on their mouths all over school that day. It ceased being funny when Snape got hit with it and nobody could remove it, the twins were very reluctant to admit they had done it; so Harry removed it silently and without a wand and nobody knew who had done it. McGonagall did comment that it was a very good combination of Transfiguration and Charms and she would award 30 points to anyone who could cast it, and remove it as her Finite Incantatum didn't have any effect. Snape's offer of the deductions of 100 points was never accepted.

The twins asked if Hermione knew any other spells that might be useful as part of a prank, all they got was a smile and she nodded towards Harry. Harry just grinned. "Forge, I believe we have been outdone by a firstie" "I think you are correct Gred, and it is embarrassing to say the least.". Hermione admitted later to Harry she had made the spell herself, Harry told her how proud he was of her skill. The following Monday Hermione told McGonagall she had created the zipper spell, but she didn't want the points. McGonagall agreed but wanted to know how to cast the spell herself, it would come in handy for some of her classes. When McGonagall found out who else knew the spell she almost took points from Hermione for attempted sabotage of the school, "Those two don't need much help to cause trouble, you should be ashamed of yourself Ms. Granger. Please don't help them too much".

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**A/N: Next up Halloween, I know but I had to write this little piece just so Harry, Hermione, and Neville could have some fun. I wonder who the first person will be to receive that spell from McGonagall, maybe someone named Weasley?**

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	6. Chapter 6 Halloween

**Hogwarts Year One**

**Halloween Pranks**

It was Friday and tomorrow was Halloween, but the kids had to get through classes before they could enjoy the weekend and the holiday. Harry had an idea for the Halloween party/meal, he just needed to smooth it out and get Hermione and Neville involved. At breakfast Harry told Hermione and Neville that he had an idea but would need some time alone after class to see if it was doable. If it could be done then he would explain and need their help.

Potions was different this day, Snape wasn't there. Dumbledore was teaching the class. The Headmaster said that Prof. Snape had an emergency and had to attend to a problem, and since the Headmaster wasn't an expert in potions the class would be a study period. As all the students took out books to work on Harry felt a similar pressure in his mind as when Snape tried to enter. Harry just tightened his defenses and watched out of the corner of his eyes to see what would happen next.

Dumbledore had taken over the class so he would have a chance to look into Harry's mind without causing any notice, he was unaware of Snape's activities and attempts. Dumbledore was very good at sneaking into minds, even better than Snape as he didn't usually trip any warnings. Dumbledore slowly tried to open Harry's mind and seemed to be having easy access, as expected, until he suddenly found himself in a mindscape that seemed very real.

_In Harry's mind_

_Albus was surprised to see such a vivid mindscape and it was wide open, he could see several memories playing out around him. This would be easier than he had thought, as he followed the path he had arrived on he came to a wooden fence with a sign saying "Do Not Enter, Danger", so of course he entered. He had only walked a few feet when he was surrounded by darkness, complete and utter darkness, nothing visible anywhere and he couldn't even see the end of his nose. Albus turned around and tried to walk out the way he had come in, it was straight so it should not be any problem, he hit a wall._

_A deep booming voice came from all around him, **"You were warned old man. You were told not to come here, now here you will stay. Your body will wither away on the outside while you are denied exit from this place." **Albus had not seen this type of trap in any of the many minds he had been in, especially one so young as Harry. Albus tried to light his wand, only to find he had no wand; he tried a wandless light spell, nothing happened he didn't feel any type of pull on his magic like he expected. Albus was getting a little worried, of course he could always just cut the connection since he thought he was in control._

Back in the classroom Hermione noticed that the Headmaster was starring at Harry and Harry had started to stare back, their eyes locked to one another. The Headmaster started to drool and got a very blank look on his face just before Harry dropped his eyes and smiled as he read one of the books from his library at the manor.

_Albus tried to cut the connection, but he couldn't even find a connection. He started to wander, keeping a hand on the unseen wall. He came to a corner and followed the wall to his left, right into another wall - a dead end. He reversed his course and found himself facing a pair of eyes in the darkness, a pair of snake-like eyes with red centers. Albus got the impression that the eyes were as surprised as he was. **"This is the last person to come here uninvited, he has been here for a lifetime and this is all that is left of that person"** was heard from all around. Pure evil, yes that was what Albus was feeling, he was surrounded by pure evil._

_Suddenly Albus' whole world started to shake and he smelled the most foul odor, in the distance he could see a light and started to go towards the light, hoping he could make it as he felt very tired._

"Albus, wake up. What happened to you? What is wrong with him Poppy?", was the first thing Dumbledore heard since he saw the light, and it sounded like Prof. McGonagall.

Dumbledore opened his eyes and found himself looking up into the face of "Poppy", the school nurse. Standing beside her was McGonagall, both looked worried. Then heard someone ask is the Headmaster okay, turning his head he saw Ms. Granger, Mr. Longbottom, and Harry Potter. The last thing he remembered was telling the students to use the class as a study period.

With a dry throat, the first words out of his mouth were, "What happened, why do I find myself in the hospital wing?"

"You aren't in the hospital wing but in Prof. Snape's quarters next to the potions classroom. As to what happened, from what the students tell me you were sitting at the desk and you appeared to doze off. When the bell rang and you didn't respond, Ms. Granger, Mr. Longbottom, and Mr. Potter levitated you into here. How they got the door open is still up for debate; anyway, one of the students got a prefect who called myself and Poppy. This is how we found you", was the reply from McGonagall.

Poppy was passing her wand all up and down Dumbledore's body and finding nothing out of the ordinary, except his core was a little low on energy. She let him sit up some so he could drink some water, then let him sit up on the side of the bed.

"Ms. Granger, Mr. Longbottom, Mr. Potter, I thank you for your help. But, it is most curious as to how you got into Prof. Snape's private quarters. Could you explain that please", Dumbledore asked.

Hermione took the lead and told him, "When you wouldn't wake up we got concerned, so the three of us sent someone to get Prof. McGonagall and the nurse. We used the levitation spell to move you here, we had seen Prof. Snape come and go from this room so we knew where the door was located. When I said the Headmaster was ill and needed to lay down the door opened and we brought you here and placed you on the couch".

Snape came in about that time and was surprised to find all these people in his quarters, especially the three from Gryffindor. When he heard what had happened, he too wondered how the door got opened. Dumbledore finally provided what he thought was an explanation, "It would appear that Hogwarts herself opened the door in my time of need. I've always suspected that the castle watched over all of us to some extent and was some what sentient due to all the magic here. Now, I award ten points to each of you for your service while I was incapacitated and your thoughtfulness."

The three kids were lead out through the potions lab, so they could get their belongings, and told to go about their business. Poppy couldn't find anything wrong with the Headmaster, but asked Snape if Dumbledore could rest on his couch for a little while longer. After everyone had left and it was only Dumbledore and Snape in the room, Dumbledore told Snape what had happened as far as his scanning Harry's mind. Snape admitted that he too had tried but this had never happened to him. This made both of them wonder if maybe Dumbledore hadn't actually entered Potter's mind but had been dreaming instead.

On the way back to the dorm to drop off their bags Hermione asked Harry what had happened. His answer was only two words, "Later, tonight". It was the talk of the school about the headmaster falling asleep in class and the nurse being called. It bothered the Slytherins that three Gryffindors had been in Snape's room when very few of them had ever even seen it.

That night when the trio got to the empty classroom it was different. There were practice dummies in the room and all the desks were pushed out of the way. Harry explained that he thought it was time to teach Neville something new, a spell that might come in handy - Stupefy - and the dummies were for target practice. Hermione told Harry that she remembered the first time she saw him do that spell and hoped there wasn't a repeat. Harry reminded her that it was Reducto not Stupefy that had caused the problem, and he had learned to "pull" his power since then.

Hermione explained the difference between the two spells and what each was used for, she then explained what had happened when Harry cast a very powerful Reducto that time. To keep the peace, Harry asked Hermione to demonstrate the spell Stupefy for Neville, or would she prefer to do the Reducto. Harry showed Neville the Stupefy spell on one of the dummies, then Hermione showed the Reducto (at half power for her). It only took Neville about 45 minutes to semi-master the spell, so Harry suggested they try the disarming spell, Expelliarmus, which had been the one he used before Hermione punched Draco.

The trio spent the next hour with Neville and he finally got the hang of the spell, he was even able to disarm Hermione (she let him) but not Harry. Harry and Hermione both told Neville that they were proud of him, but he had to keep his knowledge secret unless it was really needed so they didn't get into trouble. Harry said the elves would reset the room so it was time to get some sleep.

Ron was waiting again when Harry and Neville got back to their room and when he started to complain again Neville "zipped" his mouth. This of course made Ron even madder, so Harry leaned in and told Ron if he promised to keep quiet the spell could be removed, otherwise it could be left to wear off on its own. Ron indicated that he would be quiet and Neville ended the spell, after two tries. The three went to bed after agreeing to talk the next morning.

The next morning the trio ran their miles, Neville was up to two miles to Harry and Hermione's five miles. Before they went down to breakfast Ron came up to continue their conversation from earlier. Harry asked Ron if he had mastered the levitation spell yet, Ron said no. Harry told him that Neville had finally done it last night and that was what they had been working on, in addition to Neville helping with Herbology. Not doing the homework for Harry but showing him where to find the information in the book and notes, plus giving Harry some background on the wizarding world that a muggle raised wouldn't know.

That night at the Halloween feast everyone was enjoying the food and the decorations when the doors to the Great Hall flew open and Prof. Quirrell came running in, "Troll in the dungeon, Troll in the dungeon! Thought you should know" and passed out. The students became noisy and scared.

**"QUIET"** echoed throughout the hall from Dumbledore. "Prefects escort your houses to your dorms, the teachers and I will handle the rest. Now go to your dorms in a quiet and orderly manner", Dumbledore continued.

"Professor, if there is a Troll in the dungeon wouldn't that put the Slytherins in danger?", Hermione shouted out.

Dumbledore looked stunned for a few seconds, "That Ms. Granger is correct. I seemed to have overlooked that, 5 points to Gryffindor for being so alert to danger. Slytherin house will remain here with their Head of House, the rest return to your dorms." Dumbledore continued.

As they queued up, Harry told Hermione and Neville to keep their wands handy and if they ran into the Troll to use the Stupefy spell on it, the three of them should be able to stun it together. As they approached the final staircase they were confronted with a Troll with his foot stuck in the missing step. Percy, who was in the lead, fainted just as Harry, Hermione, and Neville pulled their wands and shouted "Stupefy" together. Three red beams of spell light hit the Troll at the same time, two in the chest area and one, much brighter, right between the eyes. The Troll fell backwards due to the force applied.

Harry turned and shouted for everyone to return to the Great Hall quickly and to tell Prof. Snape what had happened. Hermione in turn pointed her wand at the Troll and said "Incarcerous Maximus" and thick chains appeared around the Troll binding him tightly. It wasn't long before McGonagall and Flitwick came to see why the Gryffindors were not in their dorm. When they saw the Troll, bound in thick chains, they astounded. Three first years were standing over the Troll with wands pointed at it, and their prefect lying there unmoving. They were told by Hermione what had happened and while she was talking the Troll shuttered. Neville hit it again with a stunner and it went limp.

Harry was surprised that the Troll moved at all, but then noticed that it wasn't waking up just having random muscle movements so he wasn't too concerned. McGonagall was speechless and Flitwick was smiling widely at the students. "Mr. Longbottom, I think you can relax now and quit stunning the Troll before you kill it. Now it is unthinkable that three first years students could take on a fuller grown Mountain Troll, much less knock it out and bind it with such heavy chains. And why is Mr. Weasley just lying there?", were the first words out of McGonagall's mouth.

Before anyone could answer the headmaster appeared on the stairs and said they had found a Troll in the dungeons and it had been sent back to the mountains. Then he saw the Troll on the stairs, a much bigger Troll. "Well, I must say you and Prof. Flitwick have this one in hand", he continued.

"Don't look at us, it was the three Gryffindors who took out the Troll. And quite well it would seem; I don't think I could have done much better", Prof. Flitwick said, and McGonagall just nodded.

"Mr. Longbottom, would be so kind as to go fetch the nurse for Mr. Weasley, I'm sure that between the three teachers we can handle this Troll. Especially since you three have wrapped him up so well in chains", McGonagall said, with a slight smile.

Neville lowered his wand and said it was Hermione who had conjured the chains, and then went to find the nurse. Harry and Hermione put their wands away also, as the three teachers looked at them, Flitwick still smiling brightly.

"You three have the most unusual luck, or is it bad luck. You keep finding problems and seem to be handling them very well. I award you twenty points each for your actions tonight in protecting your housemates and dealing with a very difficult situation", McGonagall said.

"Poppy" arrived and checked Percy only to find that he had fainted and was uninjured. Dumbledore sent for Hagrid to move the Troll from the stairway, it would take two people to levitate it safely down the stairs and out of the castle. When Hagrid got there and saw the Troll he said, "That's the biggest Troll I've seen this far down the mountain, it's usually only the younger ones who come down to cause trouble. What do you think I should do with him?"

"I would say take him back to his home and try to make him understand that he isn't to return to the castle", was Dumbledore's response.

Once the Troll was removed word was sent that the Gryffindors could return to their dorm. All the Gryffindors were excited, except Percy Weasley, and kept asking how Harry, Hermione, and Neville managed to subdue the Troll. Hermione explained that it took all three of them to knock the Troll out and that they were lucky to do it, and they hoped that they never had to face another Troll any time soon - they smelled terrible. It was midnight before everyone was finally off to bed. Ron wasn't much of a prat this time, he was busy putting his brother Percy down; that is until Harry asked how well Ron thought he would have done coming upon a Troll unexpectedly on the way to his home?

The next day the whole school knew about the trio facing down the Troll and were congratulating them continuously, even Snape was impressed. The three used the excuse that they had come across the stunning spell and had just tried it, just before they ran the other way. That explanation was accepted by all, except McGonagall and Flitwick but they would hold their tongues until Monday. Harry decided that it would be a good day to teach Neville more about flying and to give him some practice, he had passed the required training but needed more to be comfortable or useful on a broom. By the end of the day the trio were tired but Neville had improved and was more confident.

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**A/N: Sorry this was so short but I want to get on to the Quidditch match and them finding out about the trapdoor. Yes, Harry could have handled the troll by himself, this way Neville got more confidence in his spell work. I'm not sure two trolls constitute a prank or not.**

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	7. Chapter 7 Snitches and Doggies

**Hogwarts Year One**

**Snitches & Puppies**

As October ended and November started, it was very cold. Quidditch season had started and Wood had been doing all he could to keep Harry and Hermione a secret from the rest of the school, except the team of course. Their first game was in week - Gryffindor vs. Slytherin and if they won it would put Gryffindor in second place. Harry, Hermione, and Neville were outside and the two players were looking through a copy of _Quidditch Through the Ages _that Harry had gotten through owl-post. Snape just happened to come along and saw the book, "Well, you know books aren't to be taken from the library; give it here and that will be 10 points from Gryffindor".

"Sir, this book isn't from the library, I ordered it through owl-post. If you will look closely you will find that it is a much newer copy, this years copy to be exact. Also, since the book belongs to me you aren't allowed to deduct points without a valid reason, since you tried to deduct points illegally the points will have to come from Slytherin as you are the head of house for them", Harry replied politely and with firm conviction.

Sure enough Snape was informed that Slytherin had lost 10 points, and were now in last place for the house cup. Snape just stomped away. The three kids waited until he was out of sight before laughing, but it had been hard to wait. The three were just getting back to the book when Ron walked up to tell them that something had happened to Quirrell, he was now limping and had blood all over his pant's leg. When Ron heard about Snape being thwarted again he too laughed.

It was almost time for the first Quidditch game for Gryffindor, Harry and Hermione were a little nervous. They had played pick-up games before with the families, but not in public, they were with the rest of the team behind a closed door waiting to enter the pitch. The doors opened and as the team mounted their brooms Lee Jordan announced the team and they soared into the air to make a quick turn around the pitch.

The two teams met on the ground at the center of the pitch and the captains walked towards each other, shook hands under the watchful eye of Madame Hooch, and received their instructions. The bludgers were released, the snitch was released, and then the Quaffle was tossed into the air with the teams following closely. Hermione took the Quaffle as Harry took to the sky in search of the snitch and the game was on.

**GRANGER HAS THE QUAFFLE, PASSES TO BELL WHO PASSES TO JOHNSON AND THE GRYFFINDOR CHASERS ARE HEADED DOWN FIELD. THAT IS AN UNUSUAL FORMATION AS THE THREE CHASERS FOR GRYFFINDOR SPEED DOWN THE FIELD WEAVING AROUND EACH OTHER, I CAN'T TELL WHICH ONE HAS THE QUAFFLE. OH JOHNSON DODGES A BLUDGER AND IT SEEMS THAT GRANGER HAS THE QUAFFLE, SHE SHOOTS AND IT'S GRYFFINDOR 10 SLYTHERIN 0.**

The Quaffle was soon back in play and Slytherin in control when a bludger hit by one of the twins connected with the Slytherin Chaser causing him to let go of the Quaffle and it was caught by Bell who raced towards the goal with it. Bell wove in and out between the other players and was soon joined by Johnson and Hermione, who flew interference for her. Harry was high in the air watching the game, and for the snitch, while flying a figure eight pattern; he was watching the game closely when a bludger came too close and he was jarred back into watching out for more bludgers.

The game had been going for about an hour when Harry felt his broom shutter and shake, then the broom took a downward path only to suddenly reverse directions. The broom acted like a wild horse and was trying to throw Harry off. Neville noticed this before it could be mentioned by Lee. Neville also noticed that two professors were staring at Harry and both had their mouths moving; one, or both, were jinxing Harry's broom and Neville couldn't tell who was doing what.

Lee called attention to the antics of Harry's broom and now many were watching the broom try and throw Harry. Harry some how got control of his broom just as he heard Lee say he saw the snitch and Harry saw it too. Harry took off after the snitch and the Slytherin Seeker was chasing it also. The snitch headed down at a steep angle and disappeared into the crowd of players with Harry close behind. Harry was yelling for the players to make a hole as he followed the snitch downward to about three feet from the ground. The snitch suddenly went straight up and reversed course, Harry missed grabbing it by inches.

As soon as Harry was high in the air again above the professors and announce stand his broom started acting up again. Neville saw this and saw the same two professors, Snape and Quirrell, mouthing something and both were watching Harry closely. Neville had been learning a lot from Harry and Hermione and tried the disarming spell on both professors from across the pitch. The spells were very weak by the time they reached the professors, but were strong enough to ruffle Snape's robe and Quirrell's turban causing both to grab for the effected item. But not in time to keep Harry from being thrown off his broom.

Hermione saw Harry thrown off and start to fall, she called for her elemental to save Harry. Harry felt himself leave his broom and start to fall, he called his air elemental. The brother and sister elementals worked together, Windy captured the snitch while Windford caught Harry and the two were brought together as Harry seemed to fly through the air, without a broom. Some of the muggleborn students were heard to say that Harry looked like he was skydiving. Once Harry had the snitch Windy took control of Harry's broom and brought it down to Harry. Harry mounted the broom about fifty feet from the ground and pulled up while holding the snitch high in the air.

**HARRY POTTER HAS CAUGHT THE SNITCH, AND THAT WAS SOME VERY IMPRESSIVE, AND SCARY, FLYING. GRYFFINDOR WINS THE MATCH WITH THE FINAL SCORE GRYFFINDOR 210 TO SLYTHERIN'S 50!**

Harry touched down lightly on the ground still holding the snitch high above his head in a victory salute. The rest of the team touched down and surrounded Harry cheering and pounding him on the back.

"Harry, my man that was some scary flying. I thought you were a goner when you fell off your broom and you were too far away for me to get to ya in time", one of the Weasley twins said.

All the girls on the team gave Harry a hug. As Hermione hugged Harry, he told her thanks for calling Windy; Hermione just smiled, brightly. The party in the Gryffindor common room that night was a wild one, Fred and George had somehow gotten a large amount of Butterbeer and much food. Neville caught up to Harry and Hermione and told them what had happened and what he had seen and done. Harry said that explained what he had heard after the game.

Harry had seen Prof. Quirrell headed towards the forest and that Snape was close behind him. Harry had followed the two and overheard part of their conversation. He had heard Snape tell Quirrell that he, Quirrell, didn't want to make Snape mad and that Quirrell had better get his act together.

The following Monday night when Harry and Hermione called their elementals, Harry made it a point to thank both air elementals for their help and for saving his life during the game. The five of them sat and talked for around two hours, Harry even took the time to play catch with Firebeard - using a fireball. Then Hermione had an idea, she conjured a metal baseball bat and had Harry pitch to her and Firebeard catch. With Harry's control of fire it was no problem if Hermione hit as he would just keep the fireball inside the room and from doing damage.

On Wednesday night Harry told Hermione to hold on to him as they were going to see Ragnok. Harry grasped the medallion he wore and said the activation phrase and they were soon in the portkey area of the bank. The two were escorted to Ragnok. Harry asked if Ragnok had been able to find someone to instruct him in the magical use of his staff, Ragnok said he had been unable to find a Goblin who could teach Harry that type of fighting. Harry then surprised Ragnok by asking if Ragnok might know someone who could teach him about elemental magic, especially about making a wand or rod or something to call a specific type of elemental. That Ragnok said he could do, but he would need until the next week to contact the Goblin able to handle that task, but which type of elemental did Harry want to try and summon? Harry said he wanted to try both Earth and Water elementals as he could already do Fire and Air. Harry and Hermione soon went back to Hogwarts and to bed.

The following Friday night Harry, Hermione, and Neville again snuck out to practice and teach Neville more magic. Neville was getting much better now, what with the extra instruction from Harry, Hermione, and the two Professors. Of course Neville was still working on first year spells, but Harry and Hermione were now working on late third year and early fourth year spells - much to the surprise of both professors. But tonight Harry had a surprise for Neville, he had Neville try and see what type of wood best suited him. Cherry wood glowed when Neville placed his hand above it and when Harry had Neville try to detect a core he chose unicorn hair.

It was about two weeks later when the threesome got caught by one of the moving stairs and ended up at a strange door they had not seen before just as the stairs moved and left them standing on the landing. The door was locked, Hermione suggested that Neville try the unlocking charm to see if he could open the door, it didn't work for Neville but Hermione had no problem. Inside they found a dark and dusty hallway with several doors visible. As they walked by the second one they heard the growl of an animal, or several animals, and a voice they recognized as Prof. Quirrell's.

The three students made their way down the hall and came to a room with an open door. Inside the room was a large freestanding mirror. This was curious, who would put a mirror in a room by itself? The three walked up to the mirror and noticed the inscription on it: **_Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi_**. Hermione said that she didn't recognize the language as any she had ever seen, even Latin. Hermione copied down the inscription to research later in the library. The three looked into the mirror for a short while, then hearing someone coming down the hallway hid. After the person had passed the three left the room and eased down the hallway and came to another door, on the other side of the door they found a set of stairs, dusty stairs with several sets of shoe prints. The stairs ended at a blank wall with an iron ring attached. When Harry pulled on the ring it opened a door, on the other side they found themselves in the back of the library so they snuck out and returned to their dorm.

A day or two later the three went to see Hagrid at his hut. While there Hermione happened to mention what they had heard behind one of the doors. Hagrid asked them what they were doing there with Fluffy, students weren't allowed up there on the third floor. The kids explained what had happened, but didn't mention Quirrell or the mirror. Hagrid mentioned that he had found Fluffy and Dumbledore had asked to use him to guard something. "You don't find many three-headed dogs around, especially as big as Fluffy", Hagrid was heard to say. The kids changed the subject and the four enjoyed their tea and cakes before going back to the castle.

It was getting close to Christmas, there was snow on the grounds and everyone was looking forward to the holidays. One day about a week before the start of the holiday vacation Harry, Hermione, and Neville were outside when they saw Hagrid coming and he was pulling a huge fir tree behind him. The threesome asked if they could be of any help but Hagrid said he had it taken care of, if they would open the door for him. Harry and Neville each opened one of the doors and Hermione went in to ask any students to make room for Hagrid. Draco and his "friends" were just coming out and Draco just shouted for Hagrid to move out of the way as he pushed passed Hermione. That was the wrong thing to do as Hermione turned and banished Draco's coat, robes, and shoes wandlessly. It was surprising to see that Draco wasn't wearing anything under his robes except underwear. Harry added to the situation by transfiguring Draco's boxers to show small teddy bears on them, without using his wand either.

Draco was very embarrassed and wanted to know who had done this to him. Nobody said a thing as nobody had seen anyone else pull out a wand. Draco tried to accuse Hermione but she just asked if he thought she was able to use wandless magic since she was just a first year like him. Prof. Sprout came up and every time she tried to cover Draco the coverings just disappeared and Draco's boxers kept changing designs, and getting smaller and tighter. Even some of the Slytherins were laughing at Draco's predicament as he ran back to his dorm and right into McGonagall who took points for running and being undressed.

Of course Draco was the main topic at supper that night, at least his choice of underwear was. Just as the students were finishing McGonagall came by Harry and company and mentioned that she wondered who had been pranking Mr. Malfoy, it must have been done wandlessly since nobody saw a wand used. Harry and Hermione tried to look innocent, but McGonagall just smiled, discreetly, and walked on.

Since it was a Friday the threesome were once again in an empty classroom for practice. Neville told Harry and Hermione that he wished he could do wandless magic like them. Harry explained that he had learned wandless magic first, then how to use a wand. He went on to tell Neville that if he studied it maybe he too could learn. Harry did invite Neville to come over during the holidays, and Neville said to give him a fire call.

Dumbledore had a problem, he wanted Harry to stay at Hogwarts but since Sirius had gotten custody he didn't have any way to keep Harry at the school. Mr. Weasley was staying since his family was going out of the country, so maybe Dumbledore could have a chat with Ronald Weasley and get him to spy on Harry. Dumbledore was also concerned that the wards at #4 Privet Drive weren't showing any decay, in fact they were as strong as they could get, at least his were, he didn't want to think about the other wards being stronger.

Draco Malfoy had a big problem, whoever had banished his robes and coat had banished his wand also. Draco was dreading telling his parents that he had lost his wand, and that he was losing points in class because of the missing wand. Some of the older students in Slytherin still teased him about his underwear and a few of the older girls commented that he didn't seem to "measure up".

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**A/N: Well there you go, we are now up to Christmas. I am changing the timeline a little as compared to the books but will cover most of it some way or other. I have a question for you, my readers, should Harry "exorcise" Voldy or let him escape? Of course if "exorcised" then Voldy would take even longer to reappear. Tell me what you think. And someone has been reading my mind again about Quirrell facing Harry.**

**Please be kind and leave a review.**


	8. Chapter 8 Christmas Fun

**Hogwarts Year One**

**Christmas fun**

Harry, Hermione, and the rest of the students going home for the holidays were up early so as to get ready. Hermione had packed the night before, and insisted Harry do the same, so she wasn't in as much of a hurry as the rest. The threesome went down to breakfast together, they had skipped their morning workout. As they ate they listen to Ron complain about having to stay at Hogwarts by himself, Hermione told him she knew Percy was staying also.

It was almost noon and the train was to leave at 12 noon sharp. This was the first time any of the first or second year students had been allowed past the main gates, only third year and above were allowed to visit Hogsmead (unless you count the trip to the bank Harry and Hermione took). The students were escorted by the prefects and a few staff to the train station. The trip back to London was uneventful and the trio shared a compartment and talked all the way there.

When the train pulled into London and the kids got off, they saw Sirius standing there with Hermione's parents, Harry was looking for Rick and Lucy but didn't see them. As they were saying hello to each other there came a loud "You did what? How did you manage to lose your wand?" from the direction of the Malfoys. Sirius started to ask a question but Harry told him he would explain later, at home. Harry and Sirius bid Hermione and her parents farewell and went to the floo network to leave.

Their first stop was at Rick and Lucy's to say hello to them and Remus. It was suggested that they spend the night there and then go Christmas shopping the next day at Diagon Alley. Harry asked that they wait until the Grangers could join them before going shopping.

It was during supper that Harry explained about Draco's missing wand. After he finished Sirius, Rick, Lucy, and even Remus were laughing so hard they almost fell out of their chairs. Lucy had to ask "I wonder how Mr. Draco 'measures up' in the eyes of the girls?". This caused the men to laugh that much harder. Harry spent the rest of the night telling about what had happened at school, the pranks, the Quidditch match, and the extra lessons from McGonagall and Flitwick. Remus and Sirius were surprised that McGonagall went along with the extra lessons.

Sirius got upset when Harry mentioned that Snape and Dumbledore had tried to enter Harry's mind. "That is illegal; the use of Legilimens on a child without permission of the parents or guardian. Both of them could be brought up on charges if it could be proven", Sirius said.

Harry told them how he had handled the situations and that it might cause problems if it was found out he was that good at Occlumency at his age, Rick and Remus agreed. But this was the first time any of the adults had heard about the "dark" area in Harry's mind. After hearing what Harry had to say Rick was the only one to show some understanding, but he didn't say anything - yet.

The next day the crew went to Potter Manor so Harry could go and add to the wards on his properties, recharge the wards some more that is. When they got to the last property Harry told everyone to stay inside the house as this was the dragon preserve and the dragons weren't always friendly. Harry asked one of the elves to see if it would be permitted for him to step outside and speak with the dragons. The elf returned and said that the head dragon, the one he had spoken to last time, indicated it would be acceptable for Harry to speak with him.

Harry went outside as the rest watched from the windows. He approached the dragon and bowed towards it.

_"Welcome back young one. It has been a while since any of your kind has approached us in such a respectful manner. What did you wish to speak about?"_

_"I only wished to see if there was anything you or your kin might need from me. I find dragons very interesting and would like to learn from you if it is permitted. I also ask if it would be acceptable to allow my friends inside to meet you."_

_"It would be acceptable, but they need to understand that all dragons are not as accommodating as I. Do any of them also speak?"_

_"No, I'm the only one who can speak with you"_

Harry called the rest of the group out and told them to only approach the one dragon and then not too close. Everything was fine until Remus came out, then several of the dragons became upset. _"You would bring a werewolf to attack us young one?" __"No, he will not attack and if need be he will not come any closer or return here again if it would upset you or your kin"_.

Harry asked Remus to return to the house as his presents was upsetting the dragons, Remus immediately returned inside as Harry explained that the dragons sensed Remus' "furry" problem and objected to his being there. Harry introduced the others and spent a few more minutes talking with the dragon. As Harry was about to return to the house and then to his manor the dragon asked that he wait.

_"Young one, I sense a great evil about you and would offer a gift to help protect you. I would send the skin of one of the rebellious ones that tried to attack this place, if that is acceptable to you"_

_"I would be glad to accept a gift from you"_

Harry returned to the house and he and the rest returned to the manor. Everyone was excited to have been that close to a dragon and not be attacked. The group had only been back a short while when a message arrived from Ragnok asking if it would be possible for Harry to come see him. Harry replied that he would come the next day. everyone wondered what the Goblin could want.

The next morning Harry got a note from Daisy that came from Hermione, she wanted to meet up in Diagon Alley so they could all go shopping. Harry asked Daisy to relay to Hermione they would meet her and her parents at the Leaky Caldron after lunch. Harry then called Neville to see if he might want to meet them also, Neville said his "Gran" and he would see them there.

The group met up at the Leaky Caldron, Harry and Hermione were introduced to Neville's "Gran" and Neville was introduced to Sirius, Lucy, and Remus, Rick had decided to stay at home so as not to cause any problems since he weren't suppose to know Harry. Harry told Neville and Mrs. Longbottom he had to stop at the bank to see one of the Goblins about his vault and would join them later.

As soon as Harry asked about Ragnok he was escorted to Ragnok's office. Ragnok told Harry that the two elemental devices were ready and he had them there. Harry asked if he could try them out somewhere safely. Ragnok had Harry escorted to a rock chamber deep under the bank, but away from the vaults. Harry gave the Water rod a wave and it started to rain in the chamber, this surprised the Goblins. Next he tried the Earth rod, a mound of stone rose up from the floor and formed a wall around Harry until he asked it to return to it's rest, again the Goblins were surprised. Harry was informed that the rods could be shrank without causing harm to them. Harry shrank the two rods and placed them in his robes.

Harry asked if he could speak with the Goblin who had done such fine work on the rods as he wanted to thank him personally. It was just a few minutes before Harry was introduced to Hooknose, a very old Goblin. Harry thanked Hooknose and asked if he would be willing to help with the creation of two more rods, one of Fire and one of Air. Hooknose said he would be glad to help but had no experience with those two elementals and was unsure as to how to create the rods.

Harry called Firebeard, after asking if it would be okay, and introduced Hooknose. Firebeard told them what type of material would be needed and said he would have to get his father to help as it would require more heat and power than he could wield safely. Hooknose obtained the materials needed and with Firebeard's help the rod was put together. Next Harry was asked to call the senior Fire elemental by name. A very large elemental appeared and thanked Harry for allowing Firebeard to serve him. Harry explained that Firebeard didn't serve him but instead was a friend as far as he was concerned. The rod was placed on the floor and everyone except Firebeard and the senior elemental were asked to leave the room due to the amount of heat needed to finish the rod.

When Harry and Hooknose returned the only one in the room was Firebeard and he looked weak. Harry asked dif Firebeard needed to return to his own realm and he said yes, Harry released him quickly but asked that he tell the other elemental thanks. Next Harry called Windford, who called Windy and their father. Once again materials were gathered and assembled. And once again Harry and Hooknose were asked to leave the room for safety. When they returned the only one there was Windy as she had not used any of her strength. She told Harry that Windford and their father had returned to their realm as Windford was exhausted, Harry had told him he could return whenever he needed.

Hooknose called another Goblin in to look at the Air rod and was assured that it was indeed an excellent piece of work. The second Goblin questioned Hooknose about the rod and who created it. When he was told that it had been finalized by an Air elemental the second Goblin almost fainted. Then a third Goblin was called to check the Fire rod with the same result. Both rods were shrank and stored by Harry, who was then taken back to Ragnok.

Harry had a deal for the Goblins, once he had used the rods they were to be turned back to the Goblins. But Harry reserved the right to use them as often as needed, in return the Goblins wouldn't charge Harry for the ones they created. Ragnok agreed almost immediately since there weren't any Goblins who could create the Air elemental rod and only two in the whole Goblin Nation who could create a Fire rod.

Harry used his Potter portkey to go to his manor and there store the rods safely away. Once the rods were safe and secured he returned to Diagon Alley and rejoined the rest of the group. Hermione and Sirius were both very curious as to what Harry had been doing, but he refused to say anything as it was a surprise for someone. After having some ice cream the group went shopping for the Christmas presents.

Meanwhile back at Hogwarts, Ron had been summoned to the headmaster's office to speak with Dumbledore. Ron was surprised when the twin statues just moved out of the way without him saying anything or anyone being near. When the spiral stairs ended at the top he was faced with a large wooden door that opened as he approached. On entering the room he saw Dumbledore sitting behind his desk with the familiar twinkle in his eye.

"Come in Mr. Weasley, have a seat, Lemon drop?", Dumbledore said.

Ron accepted a Lemon drop from the ones offered and sat down in a very comfortable chair. The first thing Dumbledore asked was how Ron's studies were going and if he thought he needed extra help in any of them. Ron mentioned that Potions wasn't going very well for him, or most of the Gryffindors, due to Prof. Snape's obvious favouritism toward the Slytherins; Dumbledore just nodded.

"Mr. Weasley, I'll get right to the point of this meeting. I find myself in need of assistance and I think you might be able to provide that assistance. Mr. Potter seems to be doing well in his studies, as does Ms. Granger and Mr. Longbottom. Do you know why this is?", Dumbledore asked.

"Well, I know that Harry and Hermione have been helping Neville, and some of the others in class even some of the Ravenclaws, with extra tutoring on Friday nights after lights out. I've asked for extra help but they never wake me up to go with them. Harry even helps my brothers out sometimes with Charms and Transfiguration. Harry and Hermione, and sometimes Neville, are asked to help the rest of the class in both classes by the professors. You can always find either Harry or Hermione with their heads buried in some book, either in the common room or the library. I guess that is why they seem to have so very little trouble and do so well in class", Ron replied.

Dumbledore seemed to be in deep thought for a few seconds before he continues, "Maybe you could follow them some Friday night, after school starts up again, and see where they go and how they avoid the teachers and patrols. If we have students out and about at night they may be up to mischief or get into trouble".

What Ron didn't know, or notice, was that while silent Dumbledore had been using Legilimens on him and had not found much information that helped. Dumbledore was able to convince Ron to spy on Harry, Hermione, and Neville and to report what he found by suggesting that Ron might be able to "hook up" with Hermione in the future. What neither of the two noticed was that Fawkes was listening very closely and that a sword in a glass case had a glowing gem on it, in fact several gems were glowing. Ron was dismissed to return to his dorm or wherever until the next meal.

After Ron Weasley had left Dumbledore spent several minutes talking to himself and Fawkes about what to do about Harry wondering around the castle at night. Fawkes paid more attention to what Dumbledore said than he might have thought. Dumbledore finally decided to speak with Molly Weasley after the holidays to enlist her help, and maybe the help of her daughter Ginevra.

As soon as Dumbledore left his office if anyone had been around they might notice that the sorting hat and Fawkes seemed to have a conversation of sorts and that the sword has ceased to glow. Several of the paintings on the walls seemed to frown at some of Dumbledore's ideas and thoughts.

It was Christmas Day and Harry woke up early, earlier than usual, to find many presents on the foot of his bed and that Reggie appeared shortly thereafter. When Harry opened his presents he found candy from Remus, books from Hermione, potion texts and supplies from Lucy, tickets to a theme park from Rick, books on pranks and practical jokes from Sirius, a toilet seat from the Weasley twins (he scratched his head over that one), and in one package a set of dragon hide armour, boots, and gloves plus a note saying this was the skin promised Harry and the elves had taken the liberty of using some of it for these gifts (but there was still plenty left over). The last package had no name and when Harry opened it he found a silvery cloak inside with a note:

_This was left in my care by you father, I thought you might like to have it._

Harry was shocked when he stood and put the cloak on and looked in the mirror, everything below his head was gone! _"Cool, this could be very helpful and interesting"_ he thought. Harry took care of his morning toilet, dressed, and went downstairs for breakfast.

After a very filling breakfast Harry used his portkey to the bank to collect a final present he had requested they obtain for him, a Cherry and Unicorn Hair wand without the ministry trace on it. While there Harry asked if any of the Goblins made magical staffs, he was told that there were two in the area that did that type of work when the need arose. Harry asked if he could speak with one of them. Harry was escorted to a small chamber deep underground and spoke with a Goblin called Nonose. Harry expanded his staff and ask if the Goblin would examine it and see if it could be duplicated.

Nonose examined the staff but said it was beyond his skill to make a multi-core staff such as this and he knew of only one person who was able to create such a staff, Grimstead in America. Harry confirmed that was who had made the staff and explained why he had wanted to talk with the Goblin. Harry has an idea that if Neville was able to call forth an elemental then maybe he could use a staff also. Harry thanked Nonose for his time and then returned home to Potter Manor.

It was a few days later when Harry called Neville, and a short time later that Neville and his "Gran" stepped out of the fireplace and into Potter Manor. Sirius was there to welcome them in addition to Harry. Sirius and Augusta Longbottom smiled and greeted each other politely as they knew each other from the Wizengamot. Shortly thereafter Rick, Lucy, and the Grangers arrived and were introduced. Augusta was surprised to see Rick and a short explanation was soon given, afterwards Harry gave Neville his Christmas present.

Neville was amazed that Harry had gotten him a wand for Christmas, but when he gave it a wave red and gold sparks shot out much to his astonishment. Neville even said it had felt warm when he first touched it. When Augusta heard this she asked Neville if he had been having problems using his father's wand and Neville admitted it didn't seem to work as well. Hermione jumped in and reminded everyone what Ollivander had said "The wand chooses the wizard". Harry suggested they go down to the training area and let Neville try out his new wand where it was safe.

Everyone joined the kids in the training room, after all kids needed adult supervision when doing magic. Sirius took charge and suggested that Neville try the same spell with both his father's wand and his new wand. Neville choose to try the Stupefy spell against one of the dummies. He used his dad's wand first, while the spell went off okay it appeared weak. Next he tried it with his new wand; the result was very much different, the dummy was "rocked" by the spell. Lucy asked if she could measure the difference in output with the two wands.

Lucy setup the targets at the end of the room and had Neville throw the Stupefy with his dad's wand at one and with his new wand at the other. When everyone saw the difference in the scores even Augusta had to admit Neville did so much better with the new wand. Next Lucy had Neville do the same test she had done on Harry to measure his core strength. Neville's core strength was at the high end of normal for a 17 year old wizard, quiet a surprise for both Neville and Augusta since he was only 11.

Neville tried some of the basic Charms and they were easier, then he tried some of the Transfigurations from class, once again easier and better results. Hermione had Neville try a few advanced spells and they too were better, in fact he cast spells he had not been able to cast before. Augusta finally couldn't stand it any longer and asked how they had gained entry to Potter Manor. It finally came out, after Augusta did an vow of secrecy, that Harry was accepted as Lord Potter by the manor and the Goblins. Harry would later give Neville the password to the floo at the manor.

The three kids decided to go outside and do some flying, but Harry said he needed to get something first upstairs. Harry collected the elemental rods and joined the other two outside. They flew for a while then Harry lead them down to the stables and inside where it was warmer. Harry told Neville that what he was about to see was top secret and could not be told to anyone else, Neville promised. Harry called both his elementals, and Hermione called hers. Neville was soon awaken after he passed out from seeing a large Fire, a large Air elementals and a smaller Air elemental.

Harry asked Neville if he thought he would like to see if he could call an elemental. Neville said sure but it was concidered impossible for someone their age to even try. Harry pulled the rods from his robes and expanded them. He then conjured a table and lay four rods on it. Harry told Neville to choose a rod, pick it up, and give it a wave. If the rod responded then it call some type of elemental or elemental effect. Neville was nervous as he walked up to the table and picked up one of the rods and gave it a wave, nothing happened and Harry took the rod; it was the rod of Fire. Next Neville chose another rod and it rained for a few seconds, Harry removed the rod of Water. The next rod Neville chose was the one Harry thought would work, Earth. When Neville waved it a small boy made of Earth appeared and bowed to Neville.

Neville heard a voice in his head saying it was glad to be called by such a strong wizard, and a young one at that. Neville asked if Harry or Hermione heard the voice but neither of them had. Hermione explained that Neville could hear his elemental for now, but that he could talk to it verbally and it would respond mentally. Harry explained that for now the elemental could only remain for a short time but that with practice Neville would be able to call it back without the rod and it would get stronger with each calling.

Harry turned to the young elemental and said, "I know I was not the one to call you and you are not required to heed my words, but would you explain to my friend how long you can stay and how long you will need to rest before returning? This is his first time to try and call an elemental and he knows nothing about you or how to work with you yet, my other friend and I will explain much to him later". The elemental nodded its head and Neville got a confused look on his face.

After a few minutes Harry and Hermione could hear Neville speaking to the elemental and it appeared to be answering him. Harry interrupted them and told Neville that he might need to release the elemental so it could rest, a few minutes later Neville told the elemental it could return to its realm and it disappeared. Neville had many questions, but Harry just handed him a book from Peaks on elementals and told him to look through it at home. Hermione suggested that Neville think of a name for his elemental so he could see if it liked the name. Harry suggested Neville try the last rod, it produced very little results.

"So Neville, you can call an Earth elemental as I thought you would. You seem to have a mild attraction to Water also. Between the three of us we can get help from three different elementals, Fire, Earth, and Air. From what little I have read about Earth elementals that explains why you are so good with plants. I don't know if you will be able to merge with your Earth elemental the way Hermione and I can with ours or what the effect would be if you did. As we talked about before this must stay a secret, at least until your elemental is much stronger. But now we need to get back to the house before they come looking for us", Harry said as he shrank all the rods except the Earth one which he loaned to Neville and cautioned him to keep it hidden.

The threesome got back to the house just as Sirius was about to ask an elf to find them. Harry told the adults that they had been in the stable looking at the horses and had shown Neville the greenhouse. Augusta commented that if Harry had a greenhouse they would never get Neville out of it, as he had a passion for plants; while she graced them with a rare smile. Augusta went on to say the house of Potter and the house of Longbottom had been allies for a very long time and maybe it was time for Neville to get more involved with the house duties, since he and Harry were such friends.

The Longbottoms went home after the evening meal, but Neville would spend much time at Potter manor over the holidays (mostly working with his new elemental friend and flying with Harry and Hermione). Harry also made sure to go and visit Petunia and to give her a present, a book of common household charms complete with illustrations showing how to do the wand motions. Harry even gave Dudley a new game for his computer. Vernon wasn't forgotten, he got a few new ties that were less obnoxious than usual.

By the end of the holidays Neville was up to date, and beyond, on Charms and Transfigurations. It wasn't surprising how much he improved once he had a proper wand that matched him. Harry never said anything about the dragon hide armour, but took to wearing it under his clothes (after getting one of the elves to charm it to be more comfortable temperature wise). Harry did spend some time with Sirius and Remus talking about the time they were in school with his parents and some of the pranks they did.

Harry was in the room that held the family tapestry when he noticed something; one of the branches went to the name Gryffindor and there was a semi-complete family tree for that branch also. That was when he remembered that Ragnok had said he was also Lord Gryffindor, so he decided to ask about that the next time he spoke with Ragnok. Harry got that chance about a week before the holidays ended.

Harry had to go see Ragnok, along with Sirius, about some of the investments being handled by the bank. While Sirius was off talking with his account manger Harry asked Ragnok about the Gryffindor connection. Ragnok asked Harry to place a drop of blood on a piece of parchment, after looking at the results Ragnok said it was lineage test and Harry was related to the Gryffindor line. Even as Ragnok spoke a box appeared on his desk, much to his surprise. Ragnok opened the box to find a ring inside with a peculiar crest on it, the crest of Gryffindor. Harry was asked to place the ring on his finger, the ring went on smoothly and shrank to fit then seemed to melt into Harry's finger (just like the Potter Ring did on command).

Two things happened at the same time, one the final gem at Potter Manor glowed brightly (along with all the rest), and in the headmasters office at Hogwarts all the gems on a sword glowed brightly also (but nobody was there to see this - except Fawkes and the sorting hat). The second thing that happened was a hidden door behind a tapestry in the Gryffindor dorm glowed dimly for a few seconds and then faded out of sight again. Once again nobody saw this as the tapestry hid the glow and the door, even though Percy was sitting there reading a letter from his family.

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**A/N: I realize that what I have done as to the dragons goes against what JKR has said but this is my story and my world or AU. Okay Neville has an elemental, now I need some help naming it. The name should be easy to say and relate to earth - and it needs to be male. I haven't decided if Neville will be able to merge with his elemental and what the effects might be, but suggestion are welcome. I will deal with the conversation between Dumbledore and Molly in the next chapter (if I don't forget).**

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	9. Chapter 9 Hogwarts Awakens

**Hogwarts Year One**

**Hogwarts Awakens**

Well, Christmas break was over and Harry and Sirius were waiting at platform 9 for Hermione and Neville. Even though Harry was shorter than Sirius he saw Neville, and his Gran's vulture hat, first. It was only a few minutes later that Hermione and her family showed up also. All the adults greeted each other as the kids said hello to each other. Harry, Hermione, and Neville were soon on the train waiting for it to leave.

The trip back to Hogwarts was quiet and it gave the trio time to talk. Neville handed Harry the Rod Of Earth and said he had been able to call his elemental without it, but still hadn't come up with a name which would make calling him easier. The threesome agreed that it wouldn't be a good idea to summon the elementals on the train, especially an Earth elemental. Neville also showed he could do a few minor spells without his wand, and even more spells without saying them. Harry and Hermione both congratulated him and said they would work with him on learning silent and wandless casting, but not to let the professors know about the ability yet - not even McGonagall or Flitwick.

The three had just gotten their treats from the cart lady when Draco and friends showed their stupidity. Harry was heard to comment later that Draco must have a few screws loose as two people in the compartment had put him on the ground and he kept coming back for more. Draco opened the door to the compartment and started putting the threesome down, with Crabbe and Goyle just smiling behind him.

"Look at the three losers, nobody even wants to ride in the same compartment with them, not that I blame them. What self-respecting person would want to associate with a Mudblood, must less be near Longbottom the most dangerous potion student in years. Then we have "Potty" here who relies on his head of house to get him out of trouble, he can't even perform a proper wizards duel but had to resort to physical means", Draco said towards his two friends.

Harry stood up and spoke, "Malfoy do you remember what happened the last time you tried to pick on Hermione? You lost your wand and got yourself put on the ground by a girl. Now Neville here is much bigger than Hermione, just think what he could do to you physically. I've already beaten and embarrassed you once, do I need to do it again?". After finishing Harry turned his back and walked away.

As he walked away Harry noticed two things happen quickly, Neville shouted "Expelliarmus" and Hermione had her wand pointed behind Harry. Harry turned around and saw that all three boys were tied together with ropes and there was no sign of Draco's wand, again. About that time a prefect came up to see what was going on, it was the Ravenclaw prefect and she had seen Draco pull his wand and said wand go flying away just as someone disarmed him. Then she saw ropes appear around all three boys just a second later, some one was going to lose points and get a detention if she had anything to say about it.

"Alright what's going on here? You first years shouldn't be throwing spells around.", the prefect said as she looked in the door. Just as Hermione started to explain, Draco started yelling. The prefect looked at Draco and told him to shut up or she would put a silencer spell on him, just as a zipper appeared on his mouth. There was nobody close to them and surely a first year couldn't cast that spell, she couldn't and she was a sixth year.

"Alright who cast that spell", was the next thing out of the prefect's mouth.

"We thought you did", Neville said.

Between Harry, Hermione, and Neville the prefect soon found out what had happened, Harry had told Malfoy off, Malfoy had tried to cast a spell at Harry's back, Neville had disarmed Draco and Hermione had bound the three boys up. Then the prefect went to end the zipper spell but it wouldn't let go, next she summoned Malfoy's wand only to find it was broken, but she was able to end the binding spell. About that time the train pulled into the station and she saw Prof. Flitwick on the platform.

The Prof. was asked to deal with a problem that one of his prefects had on the train. When Flitwick found out what had happened he examined the wands of Harry - nothing recent, Hermione - the Incarcerous spell, and Neville - the Expelliarmus spell; nothing that was illegal was found. Flitwick gave Draco a weeks detention with Filch and deduced 10 points each from the three Slytherins. Flitwick then awarded Hermione and Neville points for their spell work and quick thinking, and he still couldn't remove the zipper from Draco's mouth.

The prefect said she had seen this zipper spell several times last semester and it usually wore off after an hour or so. Flitwick escorted the three Slytherins to the castle and straight to Prof. Snape, who was not happy at all. This could mean that Draco might be expelled from Hogwarts if McGonagall had her way. With as much trouble as Draco had been causing that might not be such a bad idea. Crabbe and Goyle were too stupid to get into trouble unless lead there by someone else, like Draco. Snape was especially upset when he scanned Draco's mind and saw what spell had been intended, a very dark spell that he could have only learned from his father before he went to prison.

As soon as Harry walked into the castle he heard a female voice in his head saying_ "Welcome home Lord Gryffindor" ._

Harry thought with all his concentration, _"Who is this?"_

_"It is I, Hogwarts. As the descendant of Gryffindor I acknowledge you and welcome you home"_, was the answer.

_"I think you for the welcome, but ask that my status be kept secret for now. I don't want anyone to know about me yet, it could cause problems for me."_, Harry replied.

_"As you wish Lord Gryffindor. Look behind the tapestry of Godric in your dorm to find your rightful quarters, only you can see the door, and only you can open the door that has remained closed and hidden for these centuries. Until you have accepted your inheritance only you may enter, your ring is the key."_, Hogwarts continued.

_"I thank you again and will talk more with you later when it is safe"_, was Harry's reply.

Harry tried to not let on what was going on, in fact the only thing Hermione noticed was that Harry paused for a second on entering the school and she didn't think a thing about that. The threesome took their trunks to their dorms and unpacked. They were to meet up again in the great hall for supper.

When Harry and Neville got to their dorm room Ron Weasley was found to be lying on his bed playing with his rat, Scabbers. Maybe it would be better to say that Ron was staring at the rat as it slept. Ron did ask how their break went and if they got any good stuff, Harry did share some of his left over candy from the train. Harry could tell their other two roommates had already dropped off their trunks and departed the room.

It was almost midnight when Harry went downstairs to see if he could find the hidden door that Hogwarts had told him about. As soon as he move the tapestry back Harry saw the door and it had a depression where the handle should be located. Harry willed the Gryffindor ring back into being and placed it the depression, the door opened. He was cautious about entering and found himself in a large room with several torches on the walls, torches that came to life as soon as he entered. He heard the door close behind him and when he turned around he could see a handle on this side.

The room was fairly large and very dusty, there was some old furniture in the room that appeared to be falling apart due to age. There was a large fireplace on one wall and several of the other walls had bookshelves filled with books. There were two other doors, besides the one he had came in, exiting the room. One of the doors lead to a bed chamber about a third the size of Harry's dorm room but only had one large bed in it, there were two wardrobe cabinets in the room and one large chest of drawers.

The other door lead to what appeared to be an office with desk, chairs, and a pigeonholed cabinet with parchment rolls in it (some of which appeared to be decayed and falling apart). Harry saw another door in one wall and when he tried it he found it locked and no keyhole. Harry went back out to the parlor, for lack of a better name for the space, and sat down on the floor, he didn't want to trust the furniture.

_"Hogwarts, I'm here and would like to talk if you have the time. I'm ready to find out what you meant when you said I needed to accept my inheritance",_ Harry thought.

_"Welcome Lord Gryffindor to the home of Godric Gryffindor when was here at Hogwarts. In order to claim your inheritance all you have to do is assert your will through the ring you wear. Stand, hold the ring out and announce yourself and state you accept your role in maintaining this school for all witches, wizards, and any who would seek knowledge"_, was the reply Harry heard in his head.

Harry stood, held out his hand with the ring on it and said, "I, Harry James Potter, the heir of Gryffindor accept my heritage and promise to do my best to maintain this school in a manner as started by my ancestor Godric Gryffindor. This I swear on my magic, so mote it be". A fiery red and gold glow surrounded Harry for a few seconds and the torches got brighter. The glow disappeared but the torches stayed bright.

_"You have claimed the castle Hogwarts, you are now truly Lord Gryffindor. I am the spirit of Hogwarts, the embodiment of Hogwarts. To use language you might understand better, we are sentient to a certain extent; we know all that happens within these walls and we protect the students of this school with all our might and magic. It has been a very long time since a descendant of the founders has been in residence here, especially that from the Gryffindor line. You now control the wards of this school such as they are. The wards have been allowed to fall low as none of the past headmasters have properly recharged all of the ward stones. Would that you return to the locked door and enter for it is now unlocked for you, and I will show you the ward stones that need your charging"_, was the next thing that Harry heard.

Harry returned to the office and sure enough the door was open and now had a handle visible. Once past the door there were stairs leading downward and a set leading upward. The downward set was lit while the upward set remained dark, so Harry went down. He came to another door without a handle but there was a handprint in the stone so he placed his hand in the print, the door glowed briefly and opened. Inside Harry found an old potions lab and two doors. One door had a handle, the other had only another handprint.

The door with the handle appeared to be the storage area for the lab as it contained shelves of ingredients, all old and decayed. Harry approached the second door and placed his hand in the print, surprisingly he felt a prick and when he removed his hand there was blood in the print. The print glowed briefly and the door opened slightly as if a lock had been released on the other side. Harry pushed the door open expecting torches but there were none. Pulling his wand, he cast the light spell so he could see where he was going. The wall had torches but they were not lit, the voice of Hogwarts told him the torches had to be lit each time as the magic for the automatic torches would interfere with the ward stones below; so Harry used his control of fire to light the torches as he passed.

At the bottom of the stairs was another door that lead into a circular room. Inside the room Harry found four large ward stones lying on the floor on top of a drawing of the castle, the ward stones laid on top of each tower represented. Beside each stone there was a stand, Harry approached the first stand and read what was on the stand. It was the instructions and incantation need to charge the stone. Starting with the Gryffindor tower Harry placed a mild burse of magic on to each of the four stones. Once all four stones had received a charge and glowed a line formed from each stone to the others and to a fifth stone in the middle of the drawing.

The voice of Hogwarts then told him that from that point on all he had to do was stand on a specific spot in the great hall and magic would be drawn from him slowly to fully charge and recharge the wards. The voice also told Harry that now the wards were active for the first time in years the way they were designed to be used. She then told him that she would make the stone in the great hall glow, but he would be the only one to see the glow. He could only charge the wards with skin contact. Once the ward stones had enough of a charge then it would be unnecessary for the headmaster to recharge the other stones, in fact they would not accept his charges; and all the changes he had made would be removed unless they constituted an upgrade - of which there had not been an upgrade in almost 800 years.

Harry was informed that he didn't have to speak with his mind as Hogwarts could hear whatever he said aloud, and he didn't have to shout - he could whisper if need be. Harry asked again that Dumbledor be kept from knowing that he had lost control of the castle wards. Hogwarts then told Harry that she would see to it that the elves cleaned and repaired the chambers above, but only he could come down the stairs to this ward stone room. The stairs leading up lead to the what was now the Astronomy Tower, since Godric was fond of looking at the stars at night, but it was a long climb to the top.

When Harry made it back up to the parlor, or sitting room as it was called, he found elves cleaning, dusting, and replacing the furniture. They all stopped when he entered and bowed towards him. Harry asked them not to bow to him and to treat him as they would a friend, there was much murmuring heard. One elf who appeared to be the oldest approached and said he was called "Pappy" and he was in charge of all the elves in the castle. Harry knelt down and shook hands with Pappy and thanked him for getting the cleaning started but asked that elves not tire themselves out trying to do it all in one night. He told Pappy that if it took a week or more to clean the quarters that was alright as he understood there was many things to do around the castle that needed their attention. Harry also asked if it would be okay with Pappy if one or two Potter elves took up residence here in the Gryffindor chambers and if there was any way to create quarters for those elves. Hogwarts said she would take care of the quarters for the Potter elves once they were there. Pappy said it was Harry's castle so he could do whatever he wanted, but looked pleased that Harry had asked.

Harry called Gustus and asked if it would cause a hardship if Reggie and Daisy came to stay at Hogwarts during the school year so they could be closer. Gustus told him that it wouldn't cause much of a problem and that both elves were assigned to take care of him and Ms. Hermione. Reggie and Daisy were called and Harry explained what he had thought, then asked both elves if they thought they could do this. Both elves said they would be glad to live at Hogwarts and to be closer to their masters, the word masters caused Harry some problems as he thought of the elves as friends not servants. When Harry mentioned special quarters for the two they both said they could just sleep in the closet.

Harry asked Hogwarts to make sure the two elves had quarters that were comfortable and with the needed items; and if the two elves didn't have any ideas to make the quarters the best she could. Harry asked Pappy and Gustus to work together to make sure that all the elves were happy and protected. Maybe some of the castle elves would like to work on one of the Potter properties and some of the property elves would like to work at Hogwarts, so they could switch out to keep all the elves busy and happy. The two senior elves both agreed to see what could be done and liked the idea.

Harry said he needed to get back to his bed as he had classes the next day and needed some sleep. Reggie asked if Harry wanted to get up early enough to do his running, but Harry said he would skip the run in the morning so he could get some sleep. Harry asked that both elves keep it a secret about the Gryffindor quarters until Harry had a chance to tell Hermione himself, they agreed.

Dumbledore was very surprised when he got up the next morning, something felt different about the castle. The wards seemed to be stronger and the magic that was the castle seemed more solid. Snape woke up and he could tell this wasn't going to be a good day, first off he had a meeting with Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Flitwick regarding Draco's actions the previous day on the train. Then he had the unpleasant duty to notify Narcissa Malfoy about Draco and his detention. McGonagall woke up to find her morning tea right where it was supposed to be and her clothes laid out as usual, she was determined to try her best to have Draco Malfoy at least suspended for his action yesterday on the train.

Harry was awaken by Ron and Neville the next morning. He was running late and needed to get a move on if he was to have breakfast before class. When Harry walked into the great hall he saw that the ward stone he needed to touch was only a few feet from where he usually sat. As he approached his seat he stumbled and made sure one hand was on the stone, he felt the drain on his magic but it only lasted a few seconds and then he was tired. Hermione asked if he was okay and Harry said he had trouble sleeping and felt clumsy today. Harry heard Hogwarts say good morning and he replied mentally.

Harry finished his breakfast and said he was going to see Poppy to see if she would give him a pepper-up potion. Poppy was reluctant to give Harry the potion, but finally gave in and allowed him a single sip. Harry thanked her and headed to class. Flitwick was late getting to class and that was a surprise to all the students as he was usually there waiting for them. When Flitwick came in he said he had been tied up with the Headmaster.

The professor was surprised when he saw the improvement shown by Neville Longbottom and understood when Neville explained about his new wand, not saying where it came from or that it didn't have the trace on it. Flitwick commented that it sure helped when the wand was the correct one and worked for the wizard, or witch. McGonagall also was surprised at the improvement of Neville and received the same explanation, a new wand. "About time Augusta got you a proper wand" was McGonagall's response, Neville just smiled.

That night there seemed to be some discussion at the head table, something about the point system not working like it should and refusing to allow Snape to take points from students. It seemed that whenever Snape tried to take points unjustly the point taking was refused and sometimes the points were removed from Slytherin instead. Dumbledore said he would look into it to see if he could find what was happening and why. What he didn't say was that he could just barely feel Hogwarts and the only wards he had control of were the ones he had installed to help monitor students, and they weren't working like they should.

When Harry and Hermione got together later that night to call their elementals they brought Neville along too. Neville called his elemental first, when it appeared it was made of stone not dirt and it was a little bigger than before. Neville explained that it took the form that was closest to its surrounding when it appeared but could change if needed. Harry tried something he had done before, he held out his hand to the elemental. As before both glowed and the elemental got a little larger, but this time Harry controlled the power he transferred so he didn't give too much. Neville was amazed, and even more so when Harry explained that if Neville could learn to control the transfer of power he could do the same thing for his elemental but he needed to be careful. Hermione told Neville about her experience with her elemental and Lucy's elemental and that she ended up in the hospital wing afterwards.

Next Hermione called Windy and Harry called Firebeard and Windford. Now they had four elementals all crowded into a small room and Firebeard was giving off some serious heat. Harry heard Hogwarts say she could open a passageway to the outside, but it would be better if the Earth elemental just made a hole in the stone wall. Harry asked Neville to ask his elemental to open the hole, which it did with ease. The three students and four elementals went outside and Neville's closed the hole.

"How do we get back in once I release my elemental?", Neville asked.

Harry said he would think of something. They were all surprised when a Phoenix appeared and landed on Harry's shoulder. Harry was even more surprised when he could hear the Phoenix who said his name was Fawkes. Fawkes explained what he had overheard in Dumbledore's office and told Harry that Dumbledore had tried to put a tracking charm on the cloak he sent to Harry but it wouldn't stick. Harry hadn't even thought about a tracking charm when he got the cloak, now he did. Harry had to explain to Hermione and Neville about Fawkes and what he had been told.

Harry asked how Fawkes could communicate with him as he had his shields up. Fawkes told Harry that the shields were useless against a Phoenix who chose to speak to him. Fawkes went on to explain that the only way another Phoenix could speak was if that Phoenix bonded with Harry, that bond would prevent any other Phoenix form speaking to him. Fawkes was an exception since Harry was Lord Gryffindor and Godric had been bonded to a member of Fawkes' family prior to his death. Then Fawkes told Harry something that made Harry mad; it seemed that Fawkes wasn't bonded to Dumbledor but had been the subject of a very old spell that allowed Dumbledore to force the bond.

Hermione asked if she could see Harry's cloak to see if she could detect the tracking spell Dumbledore had tried. Neville just stood there with his mouth open all this time, until Hermione reached over and pushed it closed. Then Hogwarts said she too could "speak" with Fawkes and receive any information he decided to relay to her.

In the end after the elementals were released Fawkes just flashed the three into Gryffindor tower, straight into the secret quarters sitting room. Now Harry had to explain even more to his friends. Harry noticed that all the furniture was now new, the bookshelves were straightened, there was a small fire in the fireplace, and Reggie and Daisy had snacks for them.

The three sat down and Harry started his explanations. To say that Hermione and Neville were taken back by the news that Harry was the heir of Gryffindor and had control of the castle would be an understatement. When Hogwarts told Harry about the point system, and he told the others, they all had a laugh. It seemed that Hogwarts had had enough of Snape's unfair treatment of the other houses and had acted to correct the problem now that she had the power supplied by Harry. Harry asked if he was the only one who could channel power through the stone in the great hall and was told that stone could draw power from anyone who made skin contact, it just drew more power from Harry as an heir.

Hermione asked if Hogwarts could speak with any of the students. Hogwarts told Harry only the heirs of the founders were able to communicate with her and she with them, but she heard all that was said within the bounds of Hogwarts school grounds. Harry took his friends on a tour of the quarters, except the ward room and the tower, and he was surprised to see that the bed chamber was now refurbished also with new items, Hogwarts even said she had added the quarters to the central sewage system for the castle.

The next morning Hermione tripped and landed on the stone, she too felt a drain on her power but it only lasted a second. At lunch it was Neville's turn to trip and add power to the wards. It was Hermione who cast a wandless tripping hex and caused a few other students to add power to the wards at random times. Harry was told that Hogwarts could mask any spells used from the headmaster as she was no longer required to report to him since Harry had come. Harry asked that she continue to report to Dumbledore, but not on any of the three of them except for normal class activities.

On Tuesday all three noticed that Ron was trying very hard to stick close to them, he stayed especially close to Harry. Ron even followed Harry to the restrooms at times. That night Harry called Reggie and asked that he start getting the potions lab setup with fresh supplies and replace any outdated equipment. Reggie said he would do that but did Harry want the equipment transferred from the manor? Harry told him to make a list of what was needed and he would get Ragnok to see about getting the equipment.

History of Magic was still boring, Quirrell was still not covering anything new for Harry and Hermione, and Herbology was getting interesting with Neville explaining things clearly for them. It was Thursday when the first problem happened. As Harry was going to Creatures class someone tried to hit him with a spell. The spell was deflected by Harry's armor but that didn't make Harry any happier. When he turned around he couldn't tell who had tried to hit him or what spell they had used, but it had been strong enough that he felt it hit his armor.

* * *

**A/N: Well there we have the next chapter and Harry is in control of the school. I'm still waiting for a few more suggestion for Neville's elemental's name. Thanks to Redwing for pointing out my mistake in the previous chapter (which has been corrected now). Once again I ask that you go to my profile and vote in the poll about Voldemort. Next up dragons (I think).**

**Please be kind and leave a review.**


	10. Chapter 10 Dragons and the Forest

**Hogwarts Year One**

**Dragons and the Forest**

A spell thrown at his back had made Harry nervous, and upset, so he wasn't paying much attention in class and was caught off guard when asked a question about flubberworms. When he didn't answer the question Hermione did and Harry lost a point for his house, most unusual for Harry to lose points. It was after class that Harry told Hermione and Neville about what had happened.

Hermione stopped the trio and wanted to look at where the spell had hit. She was surprised to find that Harry was wearing dragon hide armor and none of her detection spells were able to identify the spell that hit Harry. About that time Harry felt a spell and threw up his shield around all three of them. A red beam bounced off the shield, just missing Neville thanks to the shield.

Now Hermione was upset, her hair started blowing and Harry could feel the magic building in her - this wasn't good for someone. Neville noticed the increase in magic too and he wasn't used to this, it took a lot of magic for someone else to feel it and Hermione was putting off magic like he couldn't believe. Harry was trying to calm Hermione down, get her to control her magic and pull it back in.

"Mione, that is too much power. You need to bleed some of it off if you can't pull it back. But be careful your wand may not handle that much all at once", Harry was saying. Neville knew both of his friends were strong but this was scaring him.

Hermione pulled a small piece of wood from her robes and it became a full staff almost immediately. Then she seemed to focus on a large rock and it exploded, but the power she was generating dissipated quickly. Neville noticed that Harry seemed to be more relaxed now, but he was still looking around for more spells coming their way. Harry turned to Neville and said, "Neville, that was a Reducto at full power. Now you see what our Hermione can do if someone pisses her off really bad".

"And you don't want to be on the receiving end if that had been Harry; he is nearly four times as strong as me", Hermione added as she once again closed Neville's mouth and put her staff away.

There were several students standing there in shock at what they had just seen, Hermione Granger had just made a rock explode and no wand was seen, just the "walking stick" she sometimes had. Harry mentioned that this was almost the exact same place he had been attacked before class. Susan Bones was on her way to class, Creatures, and had seen what happened. "Nice staff Hermione, wish I had the power to use one", was Susan's comment as she walked up to Hermione.

"I saw the spell that was aimed at you three, it came from the forest. Very nice shield work whoever cast it.", Susan whispered to Harry and company.

Harry and Hermione both looked at Susan and nodded as one of the professors walked up and asked what happened. Susan jumped right in there and said that someone had sent a spell at Harry, Hermione, and Neville but the shield deflected it and the rock took the spell instead. Susan went on to say that the spell came from the forest. The professor examined the rock, and all the wands of the three. The rock had been hit with a Reducto and none of the wands had fired that curse, in fact she couldn't find where the shield had been cast either.

Later that night as the threesome were talking in the common room Harry said that while his armor might have protected him the impact would have hurt. Now he wanted Neville and Hermione to wear the same armor, but they didn't have any and no way to get some quickly - never mind the cost of such armor. Harry said he had a solution and would talk about it the next time the three met at night. Until that time they should stick together for protection.

Their conversation was interrupted by Percy Weasley, who told them McGonagall wanted all three of them in her office right now and he was to escort them there. Ron tried to follow them but Percy sent him back saying it wasn't any of his business. Once at McGonagall's office Percy was thanked and dismissed.

"Now, what happened this afternoon? I've been informed that someone tried to attack you three and that attack resulted in a rock being destroyed by a deflected spell, which I don't believe since that rock was behind you", McGonagall started.

The three just looked at their feet, Harry was talking to Hogwarts and asking that the door be re-enforced to prevent entry or over-hearing. Harry explained what had happened to him on the way to class and afterwards, the spells aimed at him. He then added that he had felt the second spell and put up a shield without thinking. He thought that the stress had overloaded Hermione and she had to bleed off some of the power quickly. McGonagall agreed that stress could cause a power build-up and that power could be hazardous to a person.

Hermione admitted to using the Reducto to bleed power, but McGonagall asked why it didn't show up in her wand. Hermione pulled her staff out and said because she use it instead of her wand since a staff could handle more power than a wand. McGonagall looked at the two boys, then Harry produced his staff and Neville just shook his head "no". McGonagall asked where they had gotten their staves, but Harry said they weren't allowed to say anything about that subject.

The kids were escorted back to their dorm by McGonagall and told to be careful. After everyone had gone to bed, Harry called Reggie and asked if he could arrange for armor for Hermione and Neville similar to his. Reggie said he would get it taken care of but it would take a few days as dragon hide was hard to sew - even for an elf. Then Reggie had a question; why was Draco Malfoy polishing suits of armor every night? Harry told him about what happened on the train and Reggie said Draco deserved more punishment than that.

The next day Harry received a note from Hagrid asking the three to come by his hut that evening for tea. When the three got to Hagrid's hut they found it was much hotter inside than usual. Hagrid was sweating up a storm but kept checking a large pot over the fire. They tried to enjoy their tea but it was too hot in there. Finally Hagrid picked something out of the pot and brought it to the table, it was an egg - a dragon egg! Harry had been studying about dragons and thought he recognized the species as Norwegian Ridgeback, a very rare breed.

"Hagrid where did you get that? It must have cost a fortune. Didn't you know it is illegal to try and raise a dragon?", was Hermione's comment.

"I won 'er in a game last night at the pub", Hagrid replied.

About that time the egg started cracking, everyone watched in amazement as the egg hatched and out came a small dragon, wet and weak, with black scales and a small ridge on its back. Hagrid started to pick it up but Harry stopped him saying its bite was poisonous even at this young age. Hagrid got a pair of gloves on and picked the little dragon up.

"I've read all about dragons in the school library and that is a Norwegian Ridgeback if I ever saw one in a picture. These books told all about raising dragons, they have to have special food and all", Hagrid said as he got some type of fluid and offered it to the hatchling dragon. Once finished with the "meal" the dragon belched and set Hagrid's beard on fire. Harry reacted and sent the fire towards the fireplace before it could harm Hagrid, or anyone else.

"Hagrid you can't keep her, and it is a female, you live in a wooden house and it breathes fire - those two don't mix well. I've also been studying dragons and know of a place where this one would fit in, I think. But if not then we can find somewhere for her. If you get caught with the dragon you could end up in prison and she could be killed. You must trust me on this and let me help both of you", Harry said pleadingly.

Hagrid just nodded and Harry called Reggie. As soon as Reggie appeared he saw the hatchling and commented it was dangerous. Harry told him he needed one of the elves from the dragon preserve right now. Reggie popped out and just seconds later returned with an elf Harry recognized. The second elf took one look at the hatchling and told Harry that they had a female that had lost her eggs and was upset, maybe this one would calm her down. Hagrid wasn't sure he wanted to let the dragon leave but finally handed it to the elf who popped away quickly. Harry promised he would keep Hagrid up to date on the hatchling.

Harry, Hermione, and Neville had lost track of time and as such were out after curfew. They were caught just as they got close to the front door by Filch and taken to McGonagall. McGonagall wasn't happy with them and said they would have a two night detention, and since Draco was the one to report them and he was out past curfew he would serve it also. The four students were sent to bed and told they would be notified when to serve their detention and with who.

Harry, Hermione, and Neville had no more gotten into the Gryffindor chambers when Reggie popped in to say that the young dragon was accepted by the female and both seemed happy together. Now Harry had more explaining to do, like how he had access to dragons and elves who knew about dragons. Needless to say the three didn't get much training in that night.

The next day Ron made his way to Dumbledore's office to report what he had seen the night before. he had seen the three go behind a tapestry in the common room and they were back when he awoke that morning. Ron also reported about the detention they had received and why. Later that day while everyone was at the Quidditch game Dumbledore entered the Gryffindor dorm and looked behind every tapestry but found no door. He next checked with the painting that served as the doorway to the dorm and was informed that nobody left the dorm after midnight. The last one to enter or leave was that Percy Weasley on prefect rounds. That was strange as a scan of Ron's mind had shown that he was telling the truth. Dumbledore had checked all of his instruments and nothing unusual had occurred the previous night except the wards had shown another change.

It was two weeks later when the threesome and Draco had to serve their detention. They were met by Filch who took them to Hagrid. Hagrid informed them they were to accompany him into the forest as several unicorns had been found dead and he was to investigate the cause. Draco protested that it wasn't safe for students to go into the forest, besides it was forbidden by Dumbledore. Hagrid said he permission to take them in the forest and it was safe as long as they were with him. This was undermined by the fact Hagrid was carrying a large crossbow and appeared nervous.

Once inside the forest Hagrid pointed out a pool of unicorn blood and said it showed that there was an injured unicorn nearby and they needed to find it, so they would split up into two groups and search. Harry was paired with Draco, who said he wanted Fang to go with him too even when Hagrid said Fang was a coward. Harry and Draco were told to give a shout if they found the unicorn or got into trouble, but to stay on the trails.

The two boys had been separated for about ten minutes when they came up on a unicorn lying on the ground with something bent over it, and that something appeared to be feeding on the unicorn's blood. The shape noticed them and started towards them. Draco panicked and fell down but got up quickly and ran screaming. Harry tripped and fell but he kept his eyes on the shape coming towards him. Harry stood, brought his staff out, and faced the oncoming shape. When it got closer Harry surrounded it with a very strong shield bubble and held it in place, captured. Harry could feel nothing but pure evil coming from the, whatever it was.

Harry sent red sparks into the air to mark his location so Hagrid could find him quickly. All was well until something knocked Harry down and broke his concentration and releasing his prisoner. It turned out to be a centaur that had knocked him down. A few seconds later Hagrid was heard coming through the forest quickly. Hagrid greeted the centaur and called him Firenze. After Hagrid heard what had happened he said it was probably a waste of time to continue looking as whatever it was doing the killing was long gone by now.

Hagrid, Harry, and Firenze headed back to the others where they found Draco bound and a zipper on his mouth. Hagrid looked at Hermione and all she said was "He wouldn't shut-up and kept trying hex the centaurs". Harry later found out all Hermione did was the zipper, Neville had bound Draco after he had almost hit Neville with a spell. Hagrid asked Harry if it would be too much trouble to just levitate Malfoy back to the school, Harry said no and so Draco floated back to school bound and gagged all the way to his dorm. At the Slytherin dorm the door just opened when Harry approached, accompanied by McGonagall, to return Draco.

Things settled down pretty much, Hermione and Neville now wore their armor like Harry did - under their clothes. It turned out the dragon hide armor even deflected minor hexes like the tripping charm. The two Weasley twins had learned several new tricks from Harry, and Hermione, and now were trying to think of stuff on their own. Dumbledore was still confused, he had managed to put tracking charms on Harry and Neville but they never seemed to stay (that was because the threesome were always checking for them and removing them) and if they did report anything it turned out to be someone else.

Harry finally got tired of Ron following him everywhere and confronted him about it. Ron admitted he had been asked by Dumbledore to keep tabs on Harry and Neville, someone else was tracking Hermione (at least that was Ron's thoughts). Harry finally made Ron a deal, if Ron would put forth the effort to study then Harry would help him understand some of the things that Ron had no clue about. Ron asked why not just give him the answers, that would be even easier.

Susan Bones became more of a friend to Harry, Hermione, and Neville; the four of them could be seen together in the library and during free periods. Susan's performance improved in class and McGonagall and Flitwick didn't fail to notice that anyone who befriended the threesome showed improved grades, except for Ron Weasley and any Slytherin. It appeared that Draco had not learned his lesson about following the rules, he had more detentions from Flitwick and McGonagall than anyone else - Quirrell even gave Draco a few detentions.

Severus Snape was at a loss as to what to do with Draco. He was also lost as to how to take a much improved Neville Longbottom in potions. Potter and Granger always produced near perfect potions and now Longbottom was doing it also. What Snape didn't know was Harry had finally gotten his potions lab setup and the three were working almost nightly on their classes, whether it be potion, charms, transfigurations, or DADA. One of the things that Neville wasn't included in was that Harry and Hermione had started back to practicing their elemental magic.

Elemental magic was more than calling an elemental, it included working with the elements of fire, water, air, and earth. Harry had almost complete control of fire; but was still trying to control air, like changing the temperature or altering the content as far as the amount of oxygen in the air inside a confined space. One of Harry's experiments resulted in his dorm room being filled with Helium which caused all five boys to talk real funny. Hermione was close to having control of air like Harry did fire, in fact it was Hermione who corrected the Helium problem. Harry was better with earth than Hermione and they were about equal when working with water.

Neville had asked Prof. Sprout if he could work in the greenhouses when he had spare time and his request was quickly granted since he was the top student in school in that subject, including the upper classmen. Neville had even been assigned a small portion of one of the greenhouses as his own, and when Prof. Sprout walked in one time she was amazed at the plants he had cohabitating the section. Plants that required similar environments were grouped and they were larger than she had ever seen. Some of the plants were needed for potions and those were growing better than she could grow them.

Neville had even been able to crossbreed plants that were considered incompatible and produce new hybrids that he asked her to publish in the journals. If there was a plant that was having problems all Spout had to do was give it to Neville and it flourished or improved. The only complaint was from Snape, some of the potion ingredients were too strong, after Neville finished with them, for his classes to use.

During one of their study nights Neville asked a question that neither Harry nor Hermione could answer, "I understand the basic four elemental - Fire, Water, Air, and Earth. But where does lightening come in? It isn't an elemental but the result of a difference in the charge in the air. I wonder what someone could do if they controlled that type of energy". The three decided to ask their favorite instructors, McGonagall and Flitwick. Harry even sent off a letter to Alana at Peaks with the question. All three had the same answer - "I don't know".

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**A/N: Okay folks it is getting close to time to deal with Quirrell/Voldemort and I haven't had enough feedback to decide what to do about it. Also, the Earth elemental still needs a name and Rocky seems the most likely so far. If some of you brainier people have an answer for Neville's question I would love to hear it and maybe work it into the story at a future point - the kids would have to study first. On a different note I'm still looking for a Beta for this story, any offers? I only foresee one or two chapters (maybe three at most) until the end of first year and start of summer vacation.**

**Please be kind and leave a review.**


	11. Chapter 11 Rebellion

**Hogwarts Year One**

**Hogwarts Rebellion**

Albus Dumbledore was awaken by a shift in the wards of Hogwarts. Someone or something had changed the wards he had placed around the castle. As he went into his office he saw that many of his indicators were silent, or melted. The instrument that allowed him to detect strong magic was nothing but a silvery puddle. Unknown to him, deep in a secret area of the castle a young student laid his hand on a special stone, in his other hand was a staff with its butt stuck firmly into the stone and dirt floor. The staff started glowing, the student started glowing, and that glow spread to the stone which started glowing.

Several weeks prior someone had tried to injury or kill Harry Potter and his friends as they returned to the castle from class. Prof. McGonagall had been notified and after looking into the matter had told the Headmaster about the incident, who said he would also look into it. Next Harry, and friends, were caught outside after curfew and given detention by McGonagall with Hagrid. Again the Headmaster was notified of this and the results of the incidents. Neither of these things seemed to bother the Headmaster much.

The night after their detention with Hagrid, Harry, Hermione, and Neville were in Harry's new quarters sitting, reading, and talking amongst themselves about what had happened to them. Harry heard Hogwarts calling him and telling him that they needed to talk about the wards and the magic that was the castle. Harry asked if there was anyway Hogwarts could take some type of form that his two friends could see and hear. Hogwarts told him not unless she had much more magic to work with. The amount she had now was more than enough to do the daily protection but to do as Harry asked she would need much more.

Harry explained what he and Hogwarts had been talking about to Hermione and Neville, he asked them what they thought. Hermione seemed to think for a few seconds then said, "Harry remember what Rick or Remus said, 'Magic is like a muscle, the more you exercise it the stronger it becomes'? Now in our training we run to increase our strength, I even carry weights to add to the exercise's results. Maybe Hogwarts needs to 'exercise' her magic more, to make it stronger, somehow".

"Maybe we need to give Hogwarts more power than she gets just from people touching the ward stone in the great hall and drawing from all the students in the castle. If there was some way to give Hogwarts the power that Hermione used in that Reducto spell or the power you used to contain that thing in the forest. Then maybe she would be even stronger, magic wise", was Neville's comment.

Harry told Hogwarts that he would see what he could do to increase her power base, but he would need to study more rituals and such first. He asked her to ignore, turn off, or remove any of the wards that were not really needed and were not part of the basic ones first set. She said she would see what she could do about that.

One of the first things Hogwarts did was to inform Peeves that unless he settled down she would eject him from the castle. After that many of the students noticed that Peeves wasn't being as much of a pain - the professors didn't notice though. To help with the energy building Harry would have Reggie transport him to the great hall at night and Harry would sit with his bare feet on the ward stone there while Hogwarts and Reggie watched out for anyone coming.

As he was sitting there one night Harry wondered why Hogwarts wasn't able to draw power from the earth through her ward stones, so he asked her. It turned out a previous headmaster had moved the main ward stone and it no longer had a connection to the earth, or at least not a very good connection. Hogwarts explained that with new construction and repairs it was not possible to move the stone again and that was where the headmasters recharged the stone now for over 500 years. Harry wasn't sure how to fix that problem.

Harry and Hermione had been studying runes but had found several that they didn't understand and seemed out of place in most combinations they found. Harry had been informed that Dumbledore was censoring any incoming or out going mail of Harry's, so Harry used Reggie to relay messages to Sirius, Rick, and Ragnok that didn't need to be seen. Harry still used Hedwig to send letters home and to receive letters from home, just to keep Dumbledore occupied and in the dark. Harry giggled one day as a thought came to him from his muggle side, he was treating Dumbledore like a mushroom - he kept him in the dark and fed him bull dung.

One night Neville mentioned that the greenhouses were getting low on the dragon dung they used for the plants and that Prof. Spout said it happened every year about this time, as school got closer to the end of session the supplies got short. Harry asked Neville if Prof. Spout could use more dung, especially fresh dung. Neville explained that the dung had to be mixed with other things first and allowed to age before it was weak enough not to "burn" the plants it was used on, dragon dung was very strong.

Nobody noticed that some of the wards and spells around the castle were changing, those that Dumbledore has set to monitor student, and staff, activities were reduced in priority with that energy rerouted to the protection wards of the castle. The wards still didn't extend to the Forbidden Forest, the Quidditch pitch, or Hagrid's hut, but they were getting there slowly. As Harry studied and learned more about wards he would try new ones on Hogwarts and if they didn't work or if they interfered he would cancel them. One new ward set was strictly for Harry's use, he set wards to monitor Hermione and Neville so he would know if they got into trouble.

Trouble was exactly what found Neville one day as he was going out to the greenhouse assigned to him for his own use. A group of Slytherins were waiting for him so as soon as Neville walked into sight they started tossing jinxes at him. After the first one was deflected Neville was aware of the Slytherins' spells and put up a shield. The shield was too weak and the spells started breaking through the shield. Neville was scared at first but soon settled down; now he was mad and started returning spells, strong spells. When one of the boys threw a Reducto curse at him Neville lost it. Suddenly there was a mound of earth swelling around the boys completely enclosing them and Neville was sending stunning spells at them, strong stunners.

Harry was notified of the trouble and told Hermione Neville was in trouble as they ran out to try and help. By the time the two got to where Neville was the trouble was over, five Slytherins were stunned and lying on the ground. But now there was another problem, Neville was glowing slightly with magical power. Harry had never seen Neville show so much power, weak compared to Hermione and himself but very strong for Neville. McGonagall, and a prefect, came up and as soon as she saw the glow around Neville she knew what could happen. Neville could burn out his core and possibly kill himself or injury someone.

Harry ran to Neville and told him to calm down and that he had to redirect the power somewhere else. Harry told Neville a spell to try and told him to aim it straight up. Neville did as Harry told him and Hogwarts was treated to a large display of fireworks overhead. Many students, and staff, were surprised at the display that suddenly appeared over Hogwarts. The Weasley twins were envious of whoever had done that display.

The glow around Neville disappeared and he fell to the ground. McGonagall examined him and said he needed to be taken to the nurse quickly. With that statement Neville just up and disappeared suddenly worrying and concerning Prof. McGonagall. In the hospital wing Poppy was surprised to see a student appear on one of the beds with two strange house elves holding him. Back at the greenhouse McGonagall's usual elf appeared and told her what had happened to the injured student, now McGonagall could relax some. It was then that someone pointed out the five boys on the ground.

Dumbledore showed up to find out what caused the fireworks and was told what had happened since McGonagall had arrived. The boys were ennervated and questioned as to what happened. The story they told didn't sound right and Dumbledore quietly scanned their minds and found the truth, but didn't say anything. McGonagall didn't believe the boys for one second when they said Neville had attacked them without cause. Things were getting out of hand when the boys suddenly changed their story and admitted they had attacked Neville and he had attacked back only in self defense . Nobody, except Harry and Hermione, believed them when they said the earth just attacked also and helped Neville.

Snape showed up and tried to accuse Harry of having something to do with this but McGonagall told him Harry was in the Gryffindor common room and she had only been a few seconds behind him when he arrived here. Harry's wand was examined and nothing found to indicate that he had had anything to do with the attack. The wands of the five boys were examined and many spells were found that shouldn't have been there, including the Reducto curse. Snape reported that every Slytherin student in the castle had suddenly found themselves back in their common room and they couldn't get out. A few students had literally been caught with their pants down and were very embarrassed.

Hermione noticed Harry smile and when he saw her notice he just mouthed "later, Hogwarts". Harry, Hermione, and McGonagall went to check on Neville. Once in the hospital wing Poppy told them that Neville would be fine, just magical exhaustion - a few potions and a nights rest was all that was needed. What Poppy didn't say, because she wasn't allowed, was that the parental binding on Neville's core was completely gone, shattered from the inside out by his core. Neville was able to tell McGonagall what had happened, he left out his elemental, and why he had stunned the boys. Since his story pretty much matched the one the boys had finally told McGonagall was satisfied, but dreaded telling Augusta Longbottom about it.

As soon as their roommates were asleep, Harry and Hermione met in the new quarters. Hermione could hardly wait to ask what had made Harry smile, Harry told her what Hogwarts had done and that several of the Slytherin girls were very embarrassed being caught with their pants down. At that Hermione started laughing so hard she fell off the couch. Then Harry told her about Slytherin being forcibly detained and not allowed out of their dorm until breakfast, even the prefects. Harry also said that he was proud of Neville for standing up for himself.

The next morning Augusta Longbottom came to Hogwarts, and she was not happy. Dumbledore tried to put it off as a prank gone bad but Augusta was a smart witch and wasn't about to fall for that line of dragon dung. She informed Dumbledore that this would be presented to the school board, of which she was the chair person; there were some changes needed and she intended to start them immediately. Just before lunch Neville was released from his bed and he joined Harry and Hermione at lunch, where he quietly told them what had really happened and thanked Harry for sending him to the med-wing. Harry explained that Hogwarts had sent the elves to take care of Neville.

To say Dumbledore was having a bad day, was an understatement, first he discovered that most of his personal wards weren't responding, then Augusta Longbottom came and promised a board review of the activities at the school and him,finally he found that he had very little contact with Hogwarts and she wasn't responding except very minimally. What else could go wrong Dumbledore wondered just as his floo flared and he as told to expect Amelia Bones and Sirius Black in the next few minutes on official business. When Bones and Black showed up they said they had a complaint from a parent about the safety at the school and were there to investigate. At that moment Snape came in and complained that none of his "snakes" could leave the dorm except to eat, if they tried to go anywhere else they were sent back to the dorm. Dumbledore just sat at his desk shaking his head as he looked at the two wizards and the one witch standing before him.

Since it was a day without classes it wasn't easy to find all the kids that Amelia and Sirius wanted to talk with, namely their own charges Harry and Susan. The two, plus Hermione and Neville, were found out by the lake having a picnic and practicing simple spells from class. Susan was surprised to see her aunt at the school, Harry had been informed as soon as Sirius was on the grounds. Sirius explained that Augusta Longbottom had filed a formal complaint about what happened to Neville and they were there to investigate. Neville told his story again and neither adult was happy hearing that five boys attacked Neville, and lost.

By the end of the day Dumbledore was informed that a Ministry level investigation had been requested to look into the safety of the students at Hogwarts. Dumbledore was cautioned that any further "pranks" like the one against Neville would result in the offenders being taken before the Wizengamot. Yes, Dumbledore had had a very bad day; he could only hope that it would be better tomorrow. But it wasn't over yet, Slytherin lost 250 points for attacking another student and the record showed that Hogwarts herself had deducted the points, and nobody was going to argue with the castle.

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**A/N: Sorry so short but I felt this needed to be written. Now Dumbledore has some real problems. Unless I change my mind the next chapter will be the showdown between Harry and Quirrmort.**

**Please be kind and leave a review.**


	12. Chapter 12 Quirrmort

**Hogwarts Year One**

**Quirrmort**

By the time the weekend was over things were back to normal, mostly, except the Slytherins still seemed to have problems. Snape was having one of his secret potion lessons that was supposed to help them advance in potions, the problem was every potion was sabotaged to some extent or other. The only potions that turned out correctly were the ones slated to go to the hospital ward.

Dumbledore was still feeling the results of the investigation by Bones and Black. He could also feel the wards changing more and some were gone completely while new more advanced wards took their place. The sorting hat had even told him that it was interested in the changes as there hadn't been many since Godric Gryffindor left Hogwarts. Fawkes was absent most of the time and only responded when Dumbledore used his control to call him. Dumbledore was worried, all of his plans were going wrong and he had lost control of Hogwarts.

The trio were in DADA and Harry was still trying to figure out why being near Quirrell caused such headaches and pressure. The Professor was rambling on about something, but not making much sense. Harry thought he could hear another voice in addition to Quirrell's. This second voice was saying things like, "Stun the boy now" "Kill the Mudbloods and the blood traitors" "Pure bloods should rule". All of this was really getting to Harry, and his scar was hurting again.

That night when the trio were in their hiding place, Harry asked Hermione if she knew of a way to see if someone was possessed or under the control of someone else. Hermione said she would have to check the library to see if she could find anything along those lines and suggested that Harry and Neville work on spells while she looked, or maybe do their homework assignments.

Harry and Neville decided to work on spells so they asked to be transported to somewhere safe to practice. They found themselves in the training room at Potter Manor and seconds after appearing Gustus showed up with snacks and energy potions. After a quick snack the two boys started working on their Charms and defense spells. Neville was trying to get one of the advanced first year Charms to work and Harry was trying different defensive spells that he had found in some of the books in the Gryffindor library. They had only been working about thirty minutes when Neville asked if Harry could explain and show him the correct way to do the spell so it would work.

Harry told Neville to try the spell again so he could watch and see where Neville was going wrong. After a couple more tries Neville was stopped and Harry told him he was doing two things wrong, first Neville's incantation was incorrect - he had the accent on the wrong part, second Neville was missing a wand stroke in the middle of the spell. Harry asked Neville to watch and listen as he did the spell. Harry did the spell very slowly so Neville could see and hear what was different, the spell didn't work. Harry tried again at regular speed and the spell went off correctly, timing seemed to be part of the spell. After three more tries Neville got the spell right and was surprised. Harry just told him all it took was confidence and the correct incantation and wand movement.

When the two got back to Hogwarts, Hermione said she had found an ancient spell that was used to see if someone, or something, was possessed. She had also found that the Imperio spell was not always considered evil or dark; it had been used to control violent persons in the past as a treatment and was, at one time, considered a valid medical spell. Her research had also turned up a spell to detect the use of Imperio on a person. Harry spent about thirty minutes practicing the two spells, Neville even volunteered to be a test subject for the Imperio spell, if they promised not to embarrass him too much.

Harry suggested they use a small animal or insect instead, but that they needed to wait as it was getting late and they needed sleep before classes the next day. The three of them were tired the next morning but after a small sip of pepper-up potion they were able to do their runs and make it to breakfast. Ron, once again, asked to be included in their "private" lessons, but Hermione found a tracking charm on him and said as long as he had those he wasn't welcome near her. Ron was surprised that Hermione had found the tracker and said he didn't know where it came from.

It was after Transfiguration class that Harry asked about the Imperio spell. At first he was referred to the DADA professor but Harry told McGonagall what he had been feeling in class and what he thought he had heard. Harry asked if McGonagall would be willing to show him an example of the spell, like on an insect or small animal - as long as neither were injured. She thought about it for a few minutes and then said she didn't have time right then as she had another class due, but would during their next "private" lesson.

It was after Charms that Harry asked if Flitwick could suggest a way to determine if someone was possessed. Flitwick said there used to be a spell that would do that but it hadn't been used in many, many years and he wasn't sure how to tell if the spell worked or not without a known possessed person. Harry asked who else might have knowledge of that spell and Flitwick said maybe the headmaster or the DADA professor. Neither seemed a good choice to Harry, but he filed the information away. While doing the filing Harry realized that he had been neglecting his mind magics and that he needed to do some serious work on those, and probably Hermione and Neville were lacking too.

When they went to Herbology they were surprised when Prof. Sprout motioned for Neville to come to the front of the class. It seemed that Sprout had a lost her voice and wanted Neville to lead the class. She pointed to the plant that they were to work with and indicated that Neville should explain how to deal with it. Neville was nervous but gave it his best shot, it was later said that was the best class they had ever had in that subject. At the end of class the professor awarded Neville 20 points for his outstanding work.

When Friday came and they were in potions, Snape divided the class and said that he wanted them partnered within their own houses for this class and that there would be a barrier spell between the two houses so there could be no sabotaged potions. He gave them the potion to brew, with instructions on the board, and told them to start. As soon as they all had their ingredients and were back at their tables he cast the barrier spell, he would be the only one able to pass it.

Harry, Hermione, and Neville teamed up and started working on their potion, a simple fever reducing potion. Hermione once again saw a difference between the instructions on the board and what she had been taught by Lucy. Lucy's instructions were much simpler and easier to follow, so that was how the trio did their potion. Meanwhile Snape spent most of his time "watching" his Slytherins potion work, and avoided several accidents. When only one of the Slytherin potions didn't explode Snape was at his wits end. Harry, and friends', potions were near perfect, as usual. The only thing Snape could find to complain about was that it was stronger than usual and they had extra ingredients left over.

Snape asked the trio to stay behind after class. Once everyone was gone, Snape asked why they had extra. Neville answered the question, but very shakily. He explained that he had recognized that some of the ingredients were very fresh, they had been harvested the night before, and were from the new hybrid, so they were much stronger than usual; so he had suggested they use less, since too much of one of them would cause an explosion. Snape was furious and wanted to know why he had not been told. Hermione interjected that they didn't think they should try and tell a potions master about ingredients, after all he knew potions better than the students. Snape just told them to get out.

It was almost a month until the end of school and the trio were seen to be headed to the lake one Saturday for a picnic. Once they were at the lake, and nobody else around, Harry told Hermione and Neville he had cast the Imperio detection charm on Ron and it came back positive. "Who put Ron under that curse?", was the question Harry asked.

Hermione said she had tried the same charm on Quirrell and it was negative, and she had no idea as to who had cursed Ron. Neville agreed that he had no idea either. Now all three were very wary of being around Ron. Hermione told them she had done some more research, as if that was a surprise, and found that there was a spell that went with the possession detection charm that would, sometimes, remove the possession and trap the possessor. But once again they would need a possessed person to test it on, also it could do severe damage to the person possessed if not done correctly.

Harry asked if there was a way to determine who had cast the Imperio curse on Ron, but Hermione said she hadn't come across any such spell in all of her research. The three were practicing some of their spell work when Harry started to glow. The glow was golden in color, except right over his scar it was black. The glow only lasted a few seconds before it faded away. All three were surprised, especially when Neville admitted he had been using the spell to detect possession.

"But the results were all wrong, if Harry was possessed then the whole thing would have been black. Are you sure you cast it correctly Neville? I mean, it is a complicated spell and not easy to get right", Hermione said.

Neville said as far as he knew he had cast it correct, but given his history with spells he might have made a mistake. Maybe Hermione should try, after all she was much more proficient with spells than him. Besides, Harry couldn't cast the spell on himself. Hermione and Harry agreed to let her try, since the spell was harmless and only showed possession.

Hermione cast the spell and got the same results, except the glow was stronger and didn't fade until she cast finite on Harry. While the spell was active Hermione had Harry slowly turn around in a circle so she could see if the black area moved with him or showed anywhere else. The black spot stayed over his scar and didn't show anywhere else. Hermione looked closely and saw that there was a thin gray ring around the black spot. Now all three were worried about Harry. It was decided that Harry and Hermione would make sure that Sirius, Rick, and Lucy were told as soon as possible.

As they were walking back, Harry was still trying to come to terms with the results of that detection spell on himself. That night Harry had Reggie to deliver a note to Sirius asking him to come to Hogwarts the next day and that it was very important. The next day Sirius showed up just after lunch. Dumbledore was surprised and thought something was wrong, until Sirius said he just needed to speak with Harry on a family matter that couldn't wait until the end of school. Harry and Sirius walked out to the lake where Reggie met them and transported them to the Gryffindor quarters.

Sirius was surprised, very surprised, that he and the rest of the marauders had never found these quarters. Harry was quick to explain that only the heir of Gryffindor, with the ring of Gryffindor, could access the quarters or grant access. It was only a few seconds later that Hermione, brought by Daisy, and Neville, brought by Reggie, appeared in the quarters. Harry explained why they had asked Sirius to come see them and had Hermione cast the spell again so Sirius could see for himself the results.

Sirius just sat there for a few seconds, then he too took a closer look at the resulting glow around Harry. After Hermione ended the spell Sirius admitted he had no clue as to what it meant. He suggested that as soon as school was out they get Remus, Rick, and Lucy involved in the research to determine what, if anything, could or should be done. Sirius also wanted to know if it would be possible for him and or Remus to study the books where they had found that spell. Harry was informed by Hogwarts that the books might be borrowed but only Harry could take them out of the room. Harry asked if it was permitted to copy the books and was told they were his, but he would need the permission of the other heirs, if they could be found, to copy any of their personal books.

Harry explained all this to the other three and they all agreed that it was only proper to have permission from the heirs before copying and of their works, but did this mean they had access to the other libraries? Hogwarts responded that the other libraries were hidden and she was prevented from telling where they were, but if Harry found them then he could access them - with certain limits. This news too was relayed to the others causing Hermione's eyes to open wide in anticipation.

Sirius made a comment that it was too bad the floo didn't work, that way they would have access even when school was out. Harry was again made aware of what to do to activate the floo network from here, it would be only accessible to him and the ones he gave the password. Harry went to the fireplace and activated the floo connection and then explained that it was limited for now as to incoming connections. Outgoing connections would only show that the origin was Hogwarts School of Magic. Now Sirius could leave without being noticed by Dumbledore.

Hermione suggested that either Sirius, or one of the other adults, send them some blank books so she could copy the ones that they needed to study. Sirius said he would have Remus take care of that since he was the smart one of the marauders and would know how to send them without anyone being the wiser. Everyone was taken back out and Sirius left soon thereafter.

The blank books arrived the following Tuesday addressed to Hermione from her parents. The box contained a charm bracelet with several book charms on it and a note saying "We thought you might like this since you like books so much". Hermione liked the gift, but was confused as to why it was sent since school ended in a few weeks. It was later that night that Hermione noticed that one of the charms looked different, it looked like a real book and it had a small picture on it. Daisy popped in to check on Hermione, just as she did every night, and was surprised to see an Elvin charm on the bracelet and explained this to Hermione.

When Daisy did the counter charm the book charm fell off and expanded to a full size book. Hermione looked inside and found a note from Remus telling her how to do a full copy of any book and included a "copyright" charm that the marauders had created many years ago. Hermione could hardly wait to try that out. The note also told her that each of the charms was a blank book, but only one at a time could be made to appear real and told how to change the charms. She would need an elf to cancel the present charms so she could work with the bracelet, Daisy happily canceled the charms on the bracelet.

Harry had an idea and as soon as Hermione and Neville heard it they were nervous. Harry's idea was for either him or Hermione to cause a disturbance in DADA and for Neville to cast the possession detection spell on Quirrell, since his only lasted a few seconds, and the other two would watch to see what happened. Hermione had one question, "What if he notices the effect and attacks Neville?". This Harry hadn't thought about, and it was a very valid question. Neville asked if maybe they could catch Quirrell out of class and away from the rest of the students. That was a good suggestion.

It was a few nights later when Harry was notified by Hogwarts that Quirrell was patrolling the halls alone and nobody was anywhere near him. Harry and Hermione got their elves to take them to the great hall and then to attract Quirrell's attention to that area of the castle, they left Neville out of this as he was still lacking in confidence and they were afraid he might get hurt. What they didn't know was that Neville had seen them leave and followed.

As soon as Quirrell walked into the great hall the lights came on and Hermione hit him with the detection spell. Quirrell glowed black all over, a sure sign he was possessed according to what the book had said. It seems that Hermione had been correct in her question about attacks, Quirrell shot a spell at her as soon as he felt her spell hit him. Hermione had her shield up in time, just barely, to prevent the oncoming spell from hitting her.

Quirrell wasn't prepared for two attackers, because as soon as he shot a spell at Hermione Harry attacked him from the other side. Quirrell shrugged off the weak stunner from Harry and turned to fire a curse at him. The curse never got close to Harry due to a golden shield. The spell was reflected towards the door of the great hall and Neville came in just as it did. Neville shielded out of reflex and it saved him, it also pissed him off. Quirrell now faced three students but he didn't appear worried, after all they were first years so what could they do.

Quirrell's turban fell off and now the threesome could see what looked like a second face on the back of Quirrell's head and it was speaking, telling Quirrell to capture the Potter kid. Quirrell sent a quick stunner towards Harry only to see it fail. Next he tried the Imperio curse, Harry seemed struck for a few seconds. When Quirrell told Harry to stun Hermione and Neville, Harry just shook his head and asked "Why?". This was a surprise to everyone in the room, it was not supposed to be easy to resist that spell, yet Harry did.

Quirrell was surprised again when Harry yelled one word "STAFFS", the next thing he saw was Harry and Hermione both holding a staff and starting to glow. Then he saw Neville start to glow and the stone floor started moving as if it had a life of its own. Quirrell shot an Incendio spell at Harry and watched it be absorbed, then he noticed that all the doors and all the windows had disappeared, in their place was plain stone walls that started to glow.

The face on the back of Quirrell's head told him to get away, to blast the walls and escape. The problem was the walls reflected the spell back towards Quirrell, who dodged it. Quirrell sent another Incendio towards Neville only to see a wall of stone rise up and block it. He tied the same thing towards Hermione only to see the spell turn back and be absorbed by Harry.

"So you like to play with fire, well I'll let you play with my friend Firebeard", Harry was heard to say just as a very large fire elemental appeared. The face on the back of Quirrell's head started yelling that it was impossible for someone so young to call an elemental, even he, Lord Voldemort, had never been able to call an elemental. The fire elemental was joined by two other elementals, both appeared to be made of air; then a large stone and dirt figure appeared by Neville and started moving towards Quirrell, always staying between him and Neville.

Quirrell was now surrounded by four elementals, and it was getting hot. That was when Quirrell noticed two elves pop into the room and start casting some sort of spell. It was time to get out of here, Quirrell grabbed for something around his neck and nothing happened. Hermione was heard to say port-keys and apparition didn't work inside of Hogwarts, every one knows that. Quirrell was so focused on Hermione that he didn't see Harry raise his hand and point towards him. The next thing Quirrell knew he was in pain and it felt like his head was going to explode. A thick black cloud started coming out of Quirrell's head and he fell to the floor.

Harry cast a spell and the cloud was surrounded by some sort of barrier that kept getting smaller until the cloud was compressed and contained within. The doors and windows reappeared and not long afterward Dumbledore came into the room. Dumbledore was surprised to see the four elementals, he was even more surprised to see his DADA teacher on the floor. McGonagall and Flitwick were the next to arrive, but they didn't seem surprised to see their three best students standing there. It was then that McGonagall saw that Neville was still glowing, as were the other two students.

McGonagall told all three to either draw the energy back in or to get outside and release it, quickly. Neville and Hermione ran outside, but Harry stayed. The two air elementals both disappeared at a word from Harry, the earth elemental bowed to Harry and walked out of the room. The three professors heard Harry say "Catch", and watched as he created a very large fireball and tossed it towards the fire elemental. The elemental seemed to smile and caught the fireball and threw it back to Harry. The teacher were yelling when Harry casually caught the ball and tossed it back towards the elemental. Harry turned to the teachers and said it was fun to play catch with his friend.

While Harry and Firebeard played catch, Hermione explained what had happened and why Quirrell was on the floor, dead. When McGonagall asked where Hermione had learned the spells used, Hermione said from Godric Gryffindor's personal library. When the three teachers didn't seem to believe her Hermione asked Harry if she could show them the book. Harry threw the ball top Firebeard and said only the relevant section or pages, then the fireball hit him and was absorbed. Neville walked in and said something about the teachers trying to catch flies with their mouths open and three mouths closed.

Harry shrugged his shoulders, bowed to the fire elemental (who disappeared), turned and walked over to a section of the floor and poured pure magical energy into one spot. The castle shook, the few wards Dumbledore could still feel got stronger, much stronger. The three teachers watched as Harry slowly quit glowing as the magical energy was absorbed by the castle. Harry asked what they should do with the spirit of Voldemort and pointed to the small container floating above the floor close to the head table. Dumbledore was speechless, as were the other two teachers.

Suddenly the doors to the great hall closed and they could hear several locks set into place. Harry got a dazed look on his face for a few seconds then told them that several students and teachers were coming. Harry said he didn't think everyone needed to know what had happened and that there were some things that needed to remain hidden from the students and the rest of the staff, except maybe Prof. Sprout.

Dumbledore started to raise his wand, but Harry told him if he was going to use the Sonorus charm it wasn't necessary as all he had to do was just say what he wanted to say and the castle would hear him. Dumbledore doubted that but he told everyone except Prof. Sprout to return to their dorms or quarters, everything was under control. As he finished speaking his announcement was heard throughout the castle and moments later Prof. Sprout was in the great hall, brought there by one of the house elves.

"What you see here is the spirit of Voldemort, it had possessed Prof. Quirrell. Thinks to the research done by Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom, and myself we were able to remove it from the professor, but that resulted in the death of the professor. I will ask that each teacher in the room swear an oath not to reveal what I'm about to tell you, it is for your ears only", Harry said and waited for the oaths.

McGonagall and Flitwick were the first to swear the oaths, followed by Sprout. Everyone looked at Dumbledore who said, "Harry I'm sorry but without knowing what you are going to say I can't swear a blind oath to a first year student. What you might tell us may very well be illegal and withholding that information could cause us problems".

Harry was prepared for that subject, he asked Reggie to get Sirius and bring him to the castle. Sirius appeared just a few minutes later and after hearing what had happened he was very upset with Dumbledore. Sirius said it was strange that three first years knew more than the headmaster of the school and that as the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot he absolved Dumbledore of any blame for what Harry was about to reveal, and that if need be he could call Madame Bones to witness the statement. Harry said no, this only concerned Hogwarts for now, except for the spirit of Voldemort. Then Harry had an idea, he willed the ring of Gryffindor visible and called the sword of Gryffindor to him.

Those two things convinced Dumbledore to swear the oath that Harry asked. After Dumbledore had sworn his oath Harry asked Sirius to do the same.

"Now I may reveal what some of you already suspect, I am the heir of Gryffindor. As such I control Hogwarts until such time as the other heirs are found and then all four of us will share that control. Unlike family titles this one can not be willed to another, only my descendants can inherit the title of Lord Gryffindor. I am also Lord Potter with all rights and responsibilities as I am now emancipated according to the will of my father and mother. What we do with the spirit contained in this sphere is not my decision, the outcome will be decided by all of us. From what I have read the only way for this spirit to have remained was if Voldemort preformed a very dark ritual of some sort that kept him bound to this plane unnaturally. In this room we have represented four major houses, Black, Longbottom, Potter, and Gryffindor. Plus we have a minor house represented and that is the lost part of the Black house, the part that has been lost for many centuries. That representative is Hermione Granger according to the Goblins inheritance test. So, what do we do with this spirit?", Harry asked.

There was much discussion between the people in the room, but it was finally decided to have the Ministry take charge of the sphere, specifically the Department of Mysteries. A fireplace appeared and a floo call was made to Madame Bones who asked to come through after hearing what had gone on that night. She didn't want to believe the tale either until Harry expanded the sphere some and they could all see the true form of the spirit, Voldemort. Once the sphere was shrank back down to a manageable size Sirius and Amelia took it to the Dept. Of Miseries for safe storage.

It was at breakfast the next morning that Dumbledore explained what had happened the night before, "Last night, or early this morning, it was discovered that we had an intruder in the castle. Who the intruder was isn't relevant, what is relevant is that it took the life of our Prof. Quirrell. But before he died, and with the aid of several students, he was able to defeat the intruder, the remains of which have been sent to the Ministry of Magic. How this intruder got past the wards is still a mystery and is being investigated. The wards have been reinforced and will be completely inspected over the summer vacation. Without naming any students, I must award 250 points to Gryffindor for coming to support our professor and the school. Therefore the house cup goes to Gryffindor, along with the Quidditch cup for the first time in many years. The train will depart from Hogsmead tomorrow at 11am sharp so I suggest we enjoy this wonderful meal."

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**A/N: Well Voldemort is taken care of for the time being. There will be a short rest before I start second year, but be warned things are "a changin" due to the extra education of Harry and Hermione. And since Voldemort didn't escape this time it will be harder for Peter to bring him back - If I allow that.**

**Please be kind and leave a review.**


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